Knicks vs Pacers REMATCH! Eastern Conference Finals Preview | NBA Playoffs

Knicks vs Pacers REMATCH! Eastern Conference Finals Preview | NBA Playoffs

Okay. So, the real question here is like now we have Pacers Knicks. Yeah. And to me, Pacers Knicks is going to be an absolute bloodbath. Yes. For the series. I think it goes seven. I have no idea which way it goes. I I like they they are able to press each other’s buttons in terms of advantages in such interesting specific ways that I I am so interested to see what that looks like. Uh the thing that we talked about in the Pacers, you know, win over the Cavs was the way that the Pacers just literally relentlessly attack your weaknesses in whatever you do, they are going to hammer it. Like, can the Knicks figure out answers to deal with that? Can the Knicks figure out answers uh defensively to be able to manage that? I think they’ll be able to play at the pace like I think that’s going to be okay, but at least early on in the series, but can you continue that pace throughout the course of a series when your guys are playing 45 minutes a night and the Pacers guys are playing like 35 minutes a night because they’re a little bit deeper. But then like on the other side, you know, I don’t know on the Pacers who is going to deal with Jaylen Brunson. Yeah. because the Nemhard minutes against Brunson have not been great traditionally and like do you have to use Naymith? Well, okay. If you’re using Naymith, then that means you’re using Nemhard on one of the bigger wings and they’re going to shoot over the top of Nemhard to some extent. Even though he’s a great defender and has done a really good job on that end, there are there are just so many ways that that series interests me. I I think it is such a genuinely great Eastern Conference Finals. uh in terms of like what the product will be for basketball fans. Yeah. And I was actually had this conversation over on setting the pace and they are very fascinated to get your pick. So hopefully you give that to them tonight in ter I know you said seven but they asked me if you had made your prediction yet. Um, as we were talking through the matchups, I realized the Pacers are a team that can’t do the traditional put our fourman on Carl Anthony Towns and put our fiveman on Josh Hart because they’re going to want to hide quote unquote hide Tyrese Hallebertton on Josh Hart. So, they felt like we would and they needed the size of Pascal Seakum to match up with OG and Anobi. So, they can’t put him on Carl Anthony Town. So this was like very fascinated as we were talking through it where you normally see teams do that with their fourman on Cat. So now Cat’s going to get a traditional center guarding him in terms of Miles Turner. I guess not traditional but a center on him. Turner obviously stretches the floor but like so what does that look like for Carl Anthony Towns now playing against that as opposed to what he you know especially in the Piston series. So, it it will just be interesting. And you know, like with Tyrese, Josh Hart is awesome on the offensive boards. Is Tyrese going to be able to keep him off the offensive boards every time a shot goes up or is he going to go get three or four a game? You know, like and the antithesis of that is, do the Knicks send Josh Hart to the boards enough knowing that the Pacers are going to sprint the other way every single time? Yep. Wow. That that’s a great point. the chess match of this series is actually like genuinely amazing to me. I I think it is such a cool like situation and I completely agree with you. I almost wonder and this is almost why like I think you probably have to have Nemhard on Brunson at the end of the day. I almost wonder if they put Hallebertton on male. I wonder I thought about it. make male shoot over the top of you and then they’ll put, you know, Seakum on Towns and Turner on Hart and then just try and shut down the interior. I think that’s probably what you do at the end of the day. But then again, that involves Naymith not being able to guard Brunson because like Hallebertton or I’m sorry, Nemhard is going to struggle to deal with OG’s physicality. Yeah, I think as much as anything I I think it is a genuinely it is such a cool series to me. Well, it is such a cool series. Here’s the other thing is okay, so if you have Hallebertton on Bridges, then you’re probably going to get it’s easier for Bridges to get matched up with Hallebertton going the other way, which I think is probably the initial matchup on that end because you probably do need OG on Seiakum because he can take you into the post. If you put Hallebertton on Hart as a defensive team with the Pacers, do you get more cross matches where you now get Hart on Hallebertton? Do you think that that’s favorable to you getting him instead of Bridges? Does he not navigate ball screens as well? Or, you know, do you think you can attack him in a certain way that is easier or better than attacking Bridges? I don’t like it. it just really really interesting where a matchup here completely switches things over here creates a different pressure point as you mentioned on this side of things and I am a little bit nervous Sam in terms of the Knicks playing at the Pacers pace every single game I think in general they will do it but one game can swing a series one quarter one half can swing a series especially when you get into the conference finals the Knicks have to be on it and I think that’s why tonight was vital they had to win tonight. They could not let Boston stretch this thing out to a game seven on Monday night, have one day off, and then go play Wednesday in game one against Indiana. They needed to win tonight. They’ll now get four days off to rest up and at least be full strength, ready to go at the start of the series. Totally totally agree with you on that. Like they couldn’t let this thing get long. They could not let this thing end up being a grinded out deal, especially after the Pistons series where it was like, “Oh, this thing was a real like slugfest.” And then you get into a seven game series with the Celtics, like they needed I completely agree. And the fact they were able to do it while all of their starters only played like 30 to 35 minutes, like that that was even more important to me. That that so so big, especially because the Pacers have only played 10 games in this play, right? that they went five and they went five. Like they’ve been chilling and they play more guys in general anyway. And so it just it’s so like I was looking at the Pacers stats the other day for the the playoffs and I I think I saw this right. I think I’m remembering this right. They don’t have a player Yeah. They don’t have a player averaging over 19 points per game in the playoffs. Like as good as Tyrese has been, he’s at 17 and a half. Seakum’s at 18. But they have six guys averaging double figures. And that’s with McConnell and Topin at eight and a half each. It’s just it’s it’s it’s fascinating the way the ball moves for them and the player movement. And then you get the Knicks who yes, you get Muel, you get OG games, you get a Deuce game, but really it’s so much driven by Jaylen and and Carl Anthony Towns. It just I I’m super excited for it. I I truly and I go back to like my childhood seemed like every Saturday or Sunday afternoon, whatever it was, was Knicks Pacers. Like I feel like I just, you know, it was that the nostalgia of this series and this matchup is really really cool for for me and somebody my age. So So re really what this comes down to for me is the pace. Yes. Like in multiple directions, right? Can the Knicks consistently deal with the pace in transition in terms of making sure that they get the defensive matchups that they want? So important because what the Pacers are amazing at is getting going down the court and getting you crossmatched. Yep. Like that is what they want to do every single time. They want to sprint down the court and they want to lock a bad defender on one side of the court and make sure that he ends up in a disadvantageous situation and be able to crossmatch him. Like Tyrese Hallebertton is constantly going to be seeking out in transition Jaylen Brunson on like one side of the court and try to lock him on that side of the court and then force him into ball screen actions. They will try and attack the Brunson Towns pick and roll as much as they can. the Knicks job is to avoid that by making sure that they get back on defense and that’s where like the heart thing and frankly like Mitchell Robinson as well attacking the offensive glass like that’s where it gets really interesting to me is do you decide to continue to just absolutely obliterate the offensive glass because I would understand that like that is such a huge part of what they have had success with uh especially with Mitchen Hart right like this is a team that was top half of the league in offensive rebounding right they do a really good job. But also, I think the Pacers have gotten even better since last season at being able to get teams crossmatched, being more intentional, and being able to attack mismatches. Uh, the other thing that the Pacers are, and I think this is such a great comment here from Ron Burgundy79, the Pacers are extremely intentional about their floor spacing in a way that other teams aren’t, frankly. Uh, the Celtics tend to be, but they just kind of ran out of juice and steam at the end of the day. Um, Detroit did this for one game and it really stood out and they had a ton of success cuz they forced Brunson to guard a SAR in the dunker and a floor spacer on the weak side and he couldn’t he got caught no man’s consistently but they were only able to consistently do it for one game and for the audio listeners like the Pacers are going to try and force Brunson like into being the low help man basically is what I would imagine like a huge piece of it is going to Especially given the fact that I would guess that they start Brunson probably on Nemhard would be my read. Like it could be one of the two. Like does you know it’ll just be dependent. Um Muel on Holly, OG on Siakum, Cat on Turner, Hart on Naymith, Brunson on Nimhard syncs up a little bit better. But if you told me the other way, I could live with it also. I think so. I honestly might I mean, look, they’ll they’ll cross match and do some different things like here and there, but like I might want hard on Nemhard a little bit more often just because of how good Nemhard is at leading their break at times and like being able to be that second, you know, transition playmaker out on the court. Uh yeah, it’ll be interesting to see how they go about it. But yeah, that that is the pace is going to be key in terms of making sure they don’t get crossmatched. Additionally, the pace is going to be really important just in terms of the wear and tear in this series. The Pacers go deeper than the Knicks. The Knicks are going to play, you know, basically their seven and a half guys, let’s call it, right? Can those guys continue to thrive playing 40 to 42, 43 minutes a night, whatever it’s going to have to be, and then Mitch comes in and plays his 20 and you know, Duce will come in and play his 25, right? Like, whatever you can get. Can their starters thrive throughout seven games playing at the pace of the Pacers after two physical playoff or really one and a half physical playoff series basically when the Pacers have like had time off had some time to rest and have had less minutes where like the wear and tear piece of it is interesting to me here. Yeah. My the other thing I wonder about is you’re talking about like Mitchell Robinson stuff is how much can the Knicks go to the two big lineup that we’ve seen them go to in both of these series with Carlanthy Towns and Mitchell Robinson. What where are those minutes at? How do they look? What Pacers lineup do you feel the most comfortable trying it against? And really that’s to dominate the board. So to your point, if you’re going to go to the two big lineup, you got to be sending those guys to the offensive boards. And and I think the hope there is you come down with the board and you score. The one thing I want to emphasize, Indiana will push pace right back at you off a made shot as well. You can’t and and I’m glad you emphasized getting matched up in transition cuz that was the thing New York did awful in in game five was they would point, but they weren’t really getting matched up. There was no sense of urgency to keep the the matchups that they truly truly wanted in those situations. Here’s one other thing from the Pacers side of things. You mentioned Nimhard while a good defender may not be a great Brunson defender. So let’s say it’s Naymith. What about when Naymith doesn’t? Let’s say Nimhard is like not having success, right? Two games into it or something. Let’s say we’re going into game three, Nimhard’s not having success on Brunson. Who guards him then in the non Smith minutes or if N Smith gets in foul trouble? Um is it it’s it’s going to have to be Nemhard I think. So what is there another name though? like is um you know over at setting the pace they threw out like maybe Ben Shepard gets 10 minutes and he gets a shot at it. They threw out like No. Do you do you try Ben do you try Benedict Matan on him because he’s a he’s if he’s better somewhere defensively it’s on the ball. Do you try Pascal on him? Oh, this is why this is why it’s an interesting question though, Sam, because again, if I think it’s I think it’s eight I think it’s 48 minutes of either Nemhard or Nay Smith and they stagger them and make sure you know 42 minutes, however many Brunson plays. Yeah. Uh when Brunson’s off the court, you can maybe have one of those two guys off the court. There you go. Yeah. But yeah, I I think it’s one of those two. Um like I did not like the way that Shepard dealt with physicality particularly. I think Ben is like a really uh willing aggressive like defender in terms of like he he cares. He does try to get into guys space like he he is he is willing to play that way. I think I would like almost trust McConnell to deal with the physicality more than Braun. Like honestly like I might try and put TJ on like if I had to and one of the one of Nemhard or Naymith wasn’t on the court. I might try and like have McConnell fullcourt press Brunson for like three or four minutes and just try and like wear him down a little bit more than anything. Just be a pest and try to deny him the ball and get one dig turnover, maybe take a charge on a push off, something like that. Yeah. I just I I think it’s interesting. Now, if if Nimhard is doing okay, this isn’t as big of a deal cuz I think it’s easy to find the minutes between the two of them. I I’m I’m already like in, you know, break glass in case of emergency conversation here. But it’s like for for Brunson right now. He’s Here’s the thing, like, and this is kind of why I lean the the onc court makes me lean Knicks here. It’s the like the way that the Pacers push tempo and like I think might be able to wear them down a little bit that is making me wonder about this a like in terms of the series. I do think though, man, it’s it’s it’s hard. It’s really hard. I do think I like the Knicks here a little bit more is where I’m at. It it’s Yeah, it’s hard. It’s really hard. So, the other day on the Pistons Pulse, we actually had somebody ask us our finals prediction and I said Thunder and Knicks. And I almost changed it. I I’m going to stay Knicks because that was the first thing I said. And I think I started to hesitate after their game five performance and I think that was just a huge letdown. The other team star, first team all NBA player was out. They were on the road and I I like I think it was just a let down. Tonight makes me feel a little bit better cuz they showed up tonight and really responded. But I I won’t be surprised because I think this Pacers team is really really good and I they’ve had an impressive playoff run so far. And I also think Rick Carile is a really good coach that makes smart adjustments and pushes the right buttons and makes the right decisions strategically. And so I’m gonna stay with Nicks because that was my initial thought. Um, but anybody who goes Pacers, you know, even as much as Pacers in six or something like that, I I would understand the confidence in that like part. Yeah, I I don’t know. This this is really tight. Like I I genuinely am not sure. Part of this is that like I actually think that Brunson is not a like schemable player right now. Like I I genuinely believe that now like the Pacers do have guys that like can just try to wear on him. You know what I mean? Like if I was them, I would have Nemhard guarding him full court a decent amount of the time. Like when I don’t have Naymith on him, I would have Nemhard like trying to pester him full court. I would have, you know, TJ McConnell if he has to come in for four minutes at a time, three minutes at a time and just pester him full court. You know what I mean? Yeah. Like the wear and tear piece of what the Pacers can do to you is such a big It’s such a big deal to me. It really is. They are miserable to try to guard. They are miserable to try to like defend and to deal with in a series right now. They and they are so smart and strategic about the way that they are pinpoint in their matchups. Man, I don’t I’m like almost like pushing myself back to the Pacers side a little bit. Like I am seriously 5050 on this. Like I I could not be more 50/50 on this series right now. Yeah, I’m with you. Like whenever the time comes to have the conversation on the other side, I I feel pretty good about where I’m going to go with that. Um, this one I I struggle with because I I again I instantly think Knicks and then kind of like what you’re doing to yourself right now. I start talking myself into like, well, why why is it not the Pacers? I I think Tyrese is playing at a very high level. I think Pascal’s playing at a good level. I thought Miles Turner was awesome in a lot of those Cavs games. Nith, Nimhard hits big shots. like they have these guys off the bench, Carlilele, and it’s like the pace and the tempo and they control it and it’s like, well, if I believe all of these things about them, why why am I not picking them? And I just continue I continue to default back to and and I think Brunson’s probably a big key of that. If Brunson’s not the best player in the series, like if Tyrese outplays him, the Pacers are going to win the series. But if Jaylen Brunson, like I think going into it, Jaylen Brunson is the best player in the series. and I expect him to be that, I guess, is where I land. I think this is kind of an amazing point to close on from Antoine. Interesting. Uh, is the Eastern Conference Finals also a battle for the best point guard in the East or do you think there’s another point guard that uh could end up being the best in the East? Look, I mean, I think whoever wins the series does get the supremacy. Look, Brunson’s been better in the playoffs than what Hallebertton has been. I think Brunson has a case to have been the best player in the playoffs so far. other than Jokic, right? Yeah. Like honestly, like I might hear out a case like above and beyond. Um but this is the series where you prove it, right? And if the Pacers win, you know, I don’t think either of these guys can point to we don’t have enough firepower, you know what I mean? Yeah. Uh and they’re both they’re both healthy going into the series at least, right? Like there’s there’s none of that at least as we record right now on Friday, May 16th. I mean, I was just looking at my uh AllNBA votes and I mean, Brunson was seventh or what I mean, he was second team allNBA for me. Yeah. I mean, I had Kate Cunningham above him, but I also had Donovan Mitchell above him at time in terms of that, but Tyrese ended up third team, I think, for both of us. So, um I mean, I think those are the names you’re looking at whenever you talk playoffs. I mean, I think Brunson definitely has that, but Tyrese goes in and knocks him off and out outplays. And this, like I said, this this will be a lot of fun to see from Tyrese cuz I I had complaints throughout the season of like I go be the dude. Like go be the like you should be taking these threes. You should be breaking down the defense. Like stop just passing in some of these situations. And that second quarter of whichever game it was, I was like, “Oh my gosh, this is this is sick.” Yeah. And I I will also I always want to shout this out. He has better been better defensively this year than other years. Like just in terms of activity, length, recovery, disruption, all of those type of things. He has been much better in regards to that. And this is the ultimate chance. Like I hope he carries the chip on his shoulder of most overrated player in the NBA. Like I love when players take that stuff and use it as motivation. Like continue to go out and shut everybody up. Like that’s what sports are all about. Like that’s what competing is all about. So, I hope he goes and balls out and we have a great seven game series. Yeah, I think he’s going to have to do a lot defensively in this series. Sure. Like that is honestly like a big factor for me here. He’s going to have to be like actually quite solid defensively in this series. That’s kind of where I’m at.

Sam Vecenie is joined by Bryce Simon to discuss the upcoming series between the New York Knicks & the Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference Finals.

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Sam Vecenie, a Senior NBA Writer at The Athletic, talks all about basketball. From the NBA, to the NBA Draft, to college hoops and even some high school, Vecenie has you covered in this show.