Indiana Pacers are Eastern Conference Finals bound after beating New York Knicks, how IND won Game 7

Indiana Pacers are Eastern Conference Finals bound after beating New York Knicks, how IND won Game 7

Pacers win game seven they come into the garden they get it done over the New York Knicks with a historic in so many ways offensive night they made everything everyone contributed they survived the garden they survived the Knick’s best punch and they are headed to the Eastern Conference Finals to face the Boston Celtics rep hours back and we’re talking about it all today on the lock on Pacers podcast you are locked on Pacers your daily Indiana Pacers podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team everyday what up y’all happy Monday hope you had a great week and sure you did if you’re a fan of the Pacers and welcome into another edition of the lock on Pacers podcast where are we of course talk about the Eastern Conference Finals bound Indiana Pacers as always my name is Tony East I cover the team for Forbes and SII and today we’re talking about game seven here in the garden still here they tore apart the court but they’re not tearing it down I can still see the Knicks logo but it’s all fractured and broken up both because they’re done playing and because the Pacers tore them to Smither a an unbelievable offensive night for the Pacers who could not miss everyone was making everything they were generating good shots their energy was infectious they survived the garden crowd they looked incredible they played their way they played their style they get their first road win of the series and they are headed to the Eastern Conference Finals to take on the Boston Celtics so much to talk about today the whole game the moments that made it a game seven and made the Pacers get it done looking a little bit ahead at the Celtics today as well it was such an impressive performance from the Pacers still here in the garden to wrap it all up and all of you gloat in the YouTube comments tweet at me tell me have Dum I am I was wrong I picked the Knicks the Pacers were better they got it done and they’re off to the Conference Finals let’s talk about it all with Rhett Bower Rhett’s here the closers here which means the series is over and we’re both smiling which means it was a fun exciting game to talk about Pacers smoke the Knicks was never close historic offensive night historic to win a game seven on the road in the garden the Pacers are headed to the Eastern Conference Finals I just start there at what did you make of this and doing like accomplishing this feat beyond the individual things that happened in the game I was not very optimistic that it would happen to be quite honest with you like the way that they got punched in the mouth for game five in MSG and how loud that building was like it was not pretty and the Pacers just came out guns of Blazing and obviously when you’re hitting quite literally every single shot that is a pretty big that’s a pretty big benefit that helps things but it came from everybody though too like it wasn’t just one player going going crazy so I think the Pacers really really stepped up uh as a collective and and uh hat tip to se yakum for starting off the way that he did his shot making was insane yeah he picked on a a matchup that was pretty favorable which we’ll talk about in a second to you kind of nailed it though like to me like I’m I’m here I’m still in the building and you know there was a point in the second quarter the Pacers were still up huge like 16 or 18 but Alec Burks is going on like this mini heater for the Knicks and these fans are just going nuts they’re chanting at Alec Burks every time he scores every time he hits an end one to cut it to 20 to 18 it’s like they just won the game you know like that crowd means something it has like an actual point value I don’t know how many it is but it is something and that’s why it’s so hard to win in MSG and they were getting killed at that time like when it got to six in the third quarter I I was like oh man like this is this is going to be so tough to overcome and TJ McConnell completely changed the game at that specific moment in time but that you know it that is why I like you thought man this is going to be so tough for this team who hasn’t won this building all series for a reason one is that the Knicks are good and two is that it’s extremely difficult I mean ask the Sixers they only won once in here and it took whatever the heck you call that Maxi final sequence so it’s very tough and yet the Pacers did it and you nailed the how historic is what Rick Carlile said about winning a game seven in MSG period regardless of the style historic is the word I’m going to use to talk about the how because no team has ever before today shot over 67% from the field in the playoff game until right this second today it has been done the Pacers 67.1% 53 makes on 70 nine attempts that is completely freaking bananas everyone who played except for Obi toppen shot at least 53.3% insane they were making threes they made twos they kind of made free throws they didn’t turn it over too much it was insane every possession they got a good look and the thing that made it even more wild about it is they were missing layups but they were making all these insanely tough shots or or like mid-rangers you don’t expect to drop at the r they did they made like all of them it was an un I I don’t even have a good word for it like it just felt like there was nothing they could do wrong because they could go 18 seconds in a possession and then oh an 18 footer from a guy you don’t expect to make him y it’s going in every single time yeah absolutely nuts you’re saying that you don’t know how much the uh Nicks crowd is worth in the series well I can tell you because for this series it’s been about 13 and a half 14 points every single game on average that the 30o loss obviously is a big one but like to to to be able to come into there and do it the way that they did like the thing for me that was so crazy was even though SE yakum match up was favorable and OG only played those five minutes or so um you know it was it was neith hitting shots off the bounce at the end of shot clocks it was NIMH hard making really tough finishes through contact through hartenstein through Hart like it was it was everybody and you know I mean shout out ax playing only 10 minutes but he made some really really big plays unbelievable unel we will talk about everybody because they all deserve something for the way that they played so he wasn’t the best player at all but the face the face of the way they shot today is Aaron n Smith to me you nailed like there was the the third quarter the Knicks cut it to six and it was down at seven a couple times and like everyone in metor row is like oh boy you know here we go and then like three or four times just in that quarter n Smith catches gets run off the line two dribbles pull up midi bucket every single time and it’s just like the Knicks are probably like okay cool and Aaron n Smith mid rer late in the shot clock like awesome we did a good job defending doesn’t matter he scores and then he had won to get him up to 15 or 16 where he leaked ahead in transition and got an and one layup that kind of rolled in like he’s had a rocky series from three did not matter at all today and so the fact that he was making these shots that to me I’d consider like defense is willing to live with it shots that is kind of the summation of this game to me like we’ll talk about the Stars they were hitting shots and they needed two in this game and they were great but like the face of the Pacers setting the record among many role players playing phenomenal games was specifically the third quarter but really throughout the game and Smith just wiggling around anybody being like yep Fu we score we win like take that it it happened over and over again it was unbelievable I’ve said unbelievable an unbelievable amount of times already and it’s still like that’s still accurate like you can keep using the word but it still is is correct I mean the the thing for me that I noticed with n Smith was the offensive foul that he got called for on Brunson on that Baseline which was kind of you know whatever Brunson been doing that all series using that off arm but like you know normally when he attacks a close out he’s not super under control like it’s very often it’s like all right this is a 50/50 either he’s going to get a can’t get all the way to the rim you’re like right and so like that happened and then he hit like three or four off the dribble buckets and was just making crazy plays so like you know credit to the Pacers as a whole like the mindset of it especially in that second half when it felt like the Knicks were swinging and really coming back and that crowd like you said was hyped up for for Alec Burks in a way that like they were reaching but it was also so he was bringing them back in it and so uh to to survive that with this young of a team for a team that’s not really supposed to be here even with the Knicks injuries I don’t really want to hear about that like I understand your rotation is absolutely decimated your entire starting lineup by the end of the game was out between Mitchell Robinson and Randall and OG and Brunson and then Hart by the end of it with fouling out and being injured like it’s still you had to go into that building against that crowd against that R I have a question for you okay do you remember who was injured for either the Hawks or the Washington Wizards in the first and second round of the 2014 playoffs when they played the Pacers o uh no exactly exactly like 10 years from now people will remember the Pacers made the Conference Finals that’s it period full stop like yes it matters in the moment and like when in the very immediate future when they’re making decisions about the future of their team sure like it should cross your mind and be a thought but like no one will ever remember that you know everyone will remember that team this team that not that team I just they’re to feet for me this team made the Conference Finals they beat the Knicks and the pucks and they made the Conference Finals and now they get a chance to even do more like that’s what people remember right like you have to really think and dig hard to go like in the first round all these bucks people were saying oh the Pacers only winning because and it took four games that series for someone to come into my mtion to go well the Nets guys were hurt in the second round like yeah it took you four games to figure that out because you don’t remember because that’s not what people remember right it’s just not how it goes so yeah it’s a reality but who cares um so n Smith the face it to me sorry I had that that’s my tangent answer to people who keep talking about that like yes it’s the thing who cares so the stars were the tone Setters in terms of the shot making to me you talked about zakum the Pacers won by 21 so no one number if the Pacers won by six the Knicks would have gotten Hellfire from people asking why OG played in this game because he played the first five minutes and he actually made two crazy shots where he didn’t even jump off the ground yeah but they lost those minutes by six and he could not move like at all he his his leg was barely coming off the ground he’d run down the floor and so seak was like okay what five six in the first quarter seak yes and then he had one possession OG’s guarding him Pascal takes it up he was the point guard like I’ve never seen him do this in a half court setting not transition he passes it to Tai runs behind the screen he’s wide open under the basket like no one could stay with him that was a disaster for the Knicks and if OJ didn’t make two crazy shots they’ have been down 11 in like two seconds because of that and that set the tone for Pascal’s night because then it went right back to what we saw in games three through six which is he’s either be the second half changed this they finally put hartstein on him which they should it on the whole series he’s either being guarded by Josh Hart Who is’s way taller then or pres suchu who he’s just way better than so he could cook all night he set the tone with that start and with that first quarter and Halbert was obviously great too we’ll get to him in just a second he was probably their best player but the the OG starting this game really helped the Pacers this is the same as Dame playing game six in the first round it sounded so good for the other team to have their good player and in the end something about the way they played defensively really helped the Pacers and that was massive I think in this game yeah I mean I personally like I love seeing OG come out there like not as a Pacers fan like B it’s great to see him out like no it was it suck to see him everyone who fights through injuries gets all the Applause from me and it takes excuses off the table which of course the Pacers will be happy with and they absolutely crushed the matchup they deserve a ton of credit for this and and again like you said they won by 21 and they were a minus 6 in OG five minutes so it’s not like that cost them the game and it was only a couple minutes and like Josh Hart being banged up too like he came out there and played and he interviewed after the game saying hey it’s game seven in our house in the garden like I’m gonna go out there and ball and they did like I so credit to that but also you know like I I wonder a little bit if if sakam was like man like ah like you can just tell he’s not right so he’s just like beating up on the dude w a championship me like yeah I mean but but no you’re absolutely right like going six of nine in the first half like that and and starting off so so well and it was still like some really tough buckets from them yeah and it just opened everything up and obviously Tai going four of five in the first half on threes too is just nuts because I feel like if if he got off to a little bit of a slow start the crowd would have let him know about it and that is one thing that they could completely took the crowd out of it after the first couple minutes and they didn’t really get full force back into it until that second half when the game came out and was just a completely different game uh from the way that the first half ended hey got a short little break here let’s talk about two wonderful groups of people starting off with Yahoo finance wouldn’t it be great if you could see all your investment and retirement accounts in one place well you can with Yahoo finance you can consolidate your views from multiple accounts into one Hub and access the expert analysis you need to tend your entire portfolio with confidence and that’s what I like about it so much for 25 years Yahoo finance has been the brand behind every great investor because they’re the best place to read and see all the news Yahoo finance is there for seasoned investors who need extra guidance or people like me who really need everything all in one place right they’ve got a holistic look at 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inseason tournament Tai was you know the guy that was like should this guy be MVP like he was at that level because he could get three from three whenever he wanted and make a bunch of them and tonight 12 of his 17 shots were threes and he made six of them like that is that is an unguardable player like he wasn’t quite the passer he was at that point this it’s crazy that he had the Pacers made 53 shots and their leader was McConnell with seven assists like that one underscore like the tough shots they were making and two how much of a team effort this really was but halberton was in score mode tonight and their leader only had 26 points because everybody was making shots but just like shakum right they both played 33 minutes they both just kind of wiggled to their spots and made him and siakam’s heel he didn’t really need to be motivated but just like that he had an easy match up and he just crushed it to his credit early in the game how Burton teal was this fan and I caught it after his first M shot I forget exactly what it was I think it was a left wi three he does like some little thing with his hands like this at some guy like seven seats out from the ESPN desk who’s wearing a flannel and a hat and they showed him on the broadcast you’ve all seen him now but I remember like tracking their every chatter during the game and they kept going at it and everyone remember it was like the second game of the regular season a fan was going at Halbert and Halbert pointed at him and said you did this right he loves playing on the road for that exact reason something someone can motivate him to anth higher level and he had a guy he had a front row fan getting on him and he loved making that dude pay and he would point at him and jaw with him the whole time and he was going crazy in the first quarter he had a person to do that for him in this game and Pacers will take it because he made that person shut up and hit shot after shot right in front of him and was awesome in the first half of this game yeah the Pacers had five players with four or more assists and then uh Ben Shepard had three and Obie toppen was one of those that had four like that’s the level of contribution that we were getting from everybody where Obi toppen is moving the ball around and getting assists and like even Ajax had one Aaron had one miles had one like it was just an overall absolute Insanity in every way sh way shape or form use the word St the word stay the line unbelievable some might even say um but no I I think that you know it’s a really fine line between that road crowd motiv you and that road crowd putting you on your heels which is what we saw in earlier in the season or in the series but not so much in like in Milwaukee there were still some times where that crowd was the motivating factor not really the the reason more or less that the team was was as rough as they were and so shout out to the Patriots as a whole Tyrese coming out and talking like that like it’s a it’s a good deal and I mean it’s just crazy to see uh See a team collectively come together like that with only really seak having any playoff experience agreed okay we’ll get to every player at some point and then we’ll talk about the Celtics um a moment I want to talk about that I alluded to about two seconds ago a very good player who didn’t fill up the statute in a way that will make him the leader for anybody but so TJ McConnell was was the highest plus minus on the Pacers in this game he finished plus 21 and the exact moment I would like to refer to is in the middle of the third quarter I already brought up about the timing earlier the Knicks are just slowly cutting into it cut cut cut and it gets down to six Sixpoint lead I’m going to find the exact moment on the clock uh where this happened yes 806 to go Josh Hart running layup 806 7367 not long after that less than two minutes later TJ McConnell comes in a seven-point game after a divon chenzo 3 the Pacers were up 14 like a minute after that in fact exactly uh 43 seconds at 44 seconds after that they’re up 14 right like he came in and just instantly was oh here’s here’s this great backup point guard doing his thing again he only he had an assist in there and he stole an inbounds pass at some point although it was a little later but just his energy in this game was was ridiculous and he he got into the lane he did the Nash stuff he set up his teammates his defense was awesome like the second he came in the game flipped and so he finished with 12 and seven which is good for a backup point guard anyway but that does not properly Describe the impact he had in this game in the third quarter the closest quarter of the game he was plus 10 no one else on the Pacers better than plus five he only had four points and two assists those don’t sound like good stats but he was his impact was crazy and that was the game-changing moment that really sealed the game for the Pacers yeah I mean that and then his McConnell got the got the inbound steal so n Smith had a shot clock when Smith hit the insane layup was after that steal yes yep yeah so n Smith shot clock running down 11 foot pullup Nails it McConnell steel pass it to n Smith n Smith gets absolutely draped by a hardenstein hits the bucket and then hits the free throw and then miles came down and smothered McBride after after miles absolutely baited him into into getting that and that was Pacers were up 15 at that point and that’s just that was it was 15 so like game was kind of already over but that was just one of those situations where it was like oh that’s that is the exact kind of momentum or like series cementing kind of plays that just came from came from everybody but McConnell I mean he coming in the way did and the def the defense he played on Brunson that fighting through screens and all that stuff was was really really exceptional for for a team that really could guard anybody and and for how good of screens that the Knicks typically uh typically set so just you know it again we talked about it last series a guy who started the season not in the rotation for good reason now coming in and quite possibly winning them a playoff game and playoff series the other thing that mattered a little bit about that stretch at least for like I don’t even know what the right word is to describe Pacer fan emotions they went up up six to up 18 and at the end of that when they were up 18 Brunson left the game he fractured his foot or his hand excuse me I don’t know why I said his foot he fractured his hand in the game and so if it was a six-point game then and then the Knicks lost everyone said oh well Bruns had played they would have won no no Pacers were crushing them when he left the game they probably would have held on anyway although he is so good that maybe you know that they would have said the opposite so it just dominant dominant dominant at five minutes after McConnell comes in that really changes game all right let’s just gush about the guys we haven’t talked about yet Andrew nard in this game uh I believe he was I’m trying to pull it up very quickly eight for 10 and I think all eight of his shots were like right after the Knicks scored four or five points in a row and we’re like oh maybe maybe no just kidding anded Mard just scored a layup again uh and his he guarded Brunson more in this game than he had in previous games also had six assists he was very good uh and I don’t know if you have anything to add there but I think that he also like McConnell will have an underrated game looking back so this this guy and J him hard played almost 34 minutes in the game was awesome was genuinely awesome he answered so many shots he was a minus two he was a minus two to him that is not fair to him that is so like the P won by 21 and somehow the Knicks were plus 23 in funn funnily enough that kind of is fitting because like I said his shots stopped these runs which me he was in for the runs and ending them like they would have been minus 10 if he didn’t make the shots to end him so that’s actually kind of a fittingly funny plus minus in a way well and I like that it stands out because you know the only other player who was even close to that was Ajax at plus4 and so it’s like well what the heck that doesn’t make any sense it’s like no it does make sense Nim hard was in there punching back like he was taking the Haymakers and punching back and the way that it stood out to me the most I bet if you look at his shot chart driving layup Nim hard left hand right side like it’s just he was attacking the rim and getting there pull up right now or can we not pull it up right now I wasn’t gonna three four right in the oh no five right in the circle in the restricted area two from the left elbow and one left wing three yeah so right there he had five mid shot or sorry eight M shots and five of those eight were in like that’s that is game-changing stuff on the road in a hostile environment like I said you know it’s it’s one thing to hit a big time three when when you’re when you’re going against a run and you got to answer but getting right to the cup and putting it in in a tough finish is is something that this team hasn’t really had for a lot of these losses and just shout out Nim hard being a minus two despite being one of the most impactful players on the floor the ESPN broadcast that they’re showing right next to me just showed the shot of halbert’s 18 foot rightwing fadeaway where he pointed at that fan and said hey you’re doing this you’re letting this happen very enjoyable they’re also now showing the Knick’s comeback that was for not okay Miles Turner another guy who is again not going to be the leader of anyone’s coverage of this game um is it valuable Rhett I’m just curious when a big man can make threes punish small guys at the rim and protect a paint in probably his best defensive game of the series would you say that that is an important player to have on a team oh I don’t know it’s it’s tough to say for sure because sometimes he doesn’t rebound super great he only had five rebounds and I hear that that is one of the I mean no I mean my yeah no not at all like it if you watch the game not to say you didn’t watch the game because obviously I think anybody listening to this probably watched the game but like the way that he was impacting the floor on both ends was just it was awesome it was awesome to see especially you know he was he was talking after the game saying like I’m I’m getting a little bit teared up I’m getting emotional just like it’s crazy to be back there because it is like consider how long he’s been with the franchise everything that he’s been through we talked about it at the end of last series too but like man he was he was so so good and like the rim protection the couple of the blocks that he had were just like absolutely deflating just just just disrespectful and just not not uh not something that a lot of players in this league could do especially coming down to the other end you know making five five extra buckets five of eight inside three-point line like it’s just he’s was so good it’s funny that the whole series and I think this was right to do but still like I talked about the Pacer TI advantage and how that’s mattered for them and creating some of their advantages well today I’ve noticed mil Turner’s height Advantage when he was getting these blocks like du McBride reached around for and turn didn’t even jump he just was like bye this is mine now yeah that’s not going to like it you know he just was taller and he actually did well offensively with that too second half they go har andin on SE yakum which if I’m the Knicks I’m wondering a lot why that didn’t happen earlier uh in the series but Turner three for four in the second half he had one ugly turnover on a postup other than that did very well punishing those Smalls Ben Shepard is a rookie who does not play like a rookie played 25 minutes had four five three and two plus 10 Isaiah Jackson didn’t miss a shot in this game his fouls were a problem but nine points a rebound and assist what a series from him I mean this would you know he was great all series all his little flip shots in the lane went in um I did not know what they would do at backup center this series because they had to play one after they didn’t in the first round and they went with Isaiah Jackson that was obviously the right call so those two guys in their first postseason in the game seven on the road were great that’s what the Pacers do I mean everybody we we probably won’t talk too much about Obi because he probably isn’t happy with how he played but literally everyone else who played like did awesome in their role and made like literally everything that came their way I the thing for me that stood out with I first actually Shout Out b Shepard I wasn’t a huge fan of the pick at the time I thought it was like okay another smaller guard dude he could he could give nothing ever again literally ever again and it’s a good pick th like I’m not going to use an example of a rookie who had a really good first season and then did nothing again for the Pacers because we’ve had that but Ben Shepard he did in fact like he came in and you could see him improve in this series specifically because he got the Brunson assignment and did not look good and immediately got I think he got panted actually on the first on the first possession of guardian and he came in and you could see him getting coached by the players on the floor you could see him getting coached on the coaches on the sideline and he just kept playing well and and and earning the minutes that he got because he did continue to improve but then also like he he deserved to be out there and then IX he was noticeable every time he was on the floor to me at least he came out and I think maybe it’s the rebounding conversation but anytime he came out on the floor and it’s funny he only had one board but I felt like he had at least one possession in the first like minute or two where he was on the floor where he would just jump and get his belly button at the rim and get aboard in a way that no other baser could and that’s just like he his ability to be huge and to be an an unbelievable athlete is just something that was was just phenomenal and I I don’t care that he had four fouls in 10 minutes like it was yeah you know that that is what it is that is who he is I don’t think that we’re expecting we don’t need much else from him in a game like this thankfully but what a game to have and what a series to have what a playoff run to have heading into extension talks this summer someone who someone who’s good with tech make one of those Staples that was easy buttons for me that just say unbelievable every time I hit the button and then I don’t have to anymore I’ll just hit the fake red button in front of me yeah look he had the fouls on this game but specifically Isaiah Jackson This playoffs I was thinking about this but there was never a good time to really talk about him this season for me with him with his growth was all about how he just made less mistakes right he did the stuff he was good at but he didn’t mess up as much with like a dumb foul or a moving screen or jumping at someone’s shot and like that kind of stuff lets you be trusted in the playoffs when you’re not messing up as much he he still does sometimes but like that ended up proving to be very valuable in a series like this when when he’s dialed in and he’s not messing up you can he’s your backup five like that’s huge that didn’t have to go small anymore they could play in behind Turner he could bang with whoever the Knicks had in there he was awesome and he did a great job in this game and the Pacers are moving on to the Conference Finals confer like I think a second round series or second round series like making it to that is a successful season for almost any team ever making the Conference Finals is like like in the best five seasons in franchise history for a lot of franchises for the Pacers it’s not quite there because they’ve been there quite a bit but it’s close one more break here guys so we can talk about FanDuel it is winner take all time in the NBA and in the NHL and FanDuel is giving you a shot to bring home a big win of your own in the postseason right now if you’re a new customer over on FanDuel you hop in you will get a $150 in bonus bets that’s a lot with any winning $5 bet one $5 bet you win at $150 in bonus bets that you can bet on anything you want player props or if you like money lines they got those and spreads and so much more they have their customizable betting tab fanduel’s got it all you got to check it out yourself so visit fanduel.com lockon to make every playoff shot count and get that offer of $150 in bonus betch with any winning $5 bet fanduel.com lockdown on FanDuel America’s number one Sportsbook they play Boston let’s talk about the Celtics a little bit here we didn’t get a ton of talk from the Pacers on the Celtics today obviously they were uh little excited that wasn’t really the yeah um so the the thing is here’s where I’ll start I think the only two teams that beat Boston more than once in the regular season were Denver and Indiana I might be wrong about that but I think that’s the case like we’ve seen it the Pacers can can you’re I think you’re looking it up right now the Pacers can beat the Celtics a lot and they’ve proven that and I can never write this team off they’re they’re this far for a reason that said this is the best defense they’ve played so far in the playoffs and that’s going to be a fascina I guess the Knicks were too but that’s going to be a fascinating Battle of how can they tear this team up and porzingis is is not playing and that’s going to help them well we’ll see how long he’s out for if he’s out at all he it sounds like he’s not playing early in the series how much that changes things will be an interesting Dynamic but they have so many good Defenders they get up a ton of Threes they’re a little high variance in in that way they’ve lost two home games as a result but you they are a tough defense I think that’s going to make for a fascinating series can the Pacers offense that just got them to this series outscore this incred Celtics defense uh Celtics have lost to the Hawks the Bucks the nuggets and the Pacers multiple times this season but the two Lo the two losses for the Celtics to the Hawks both came on back-to-back games in late Mar so just shout up my go Mur the Bucks one too was that late season when ranis got hurt was the second one that’s why I don’t remember okay well one four team so they’ve proven they can beat him my point stands continue exactly no and I think too it’s worth noting kristofh porzingis I don’t know if he’ll be healthy to start the series so that’s something to definitely watch out for but I think the only way that the Pacers win this is the same way they won today is as a collective because you know one one through four Pro like I mean one one and two probably go Boston’s way and Dereck white has been insane so you are bold to pick the Celtics to win a game two at home that is that is the boldest thing you’ve ever said to me I didn’t say it would be I didn’t say it would be a sweep but I think the uh I they can’t do it to anybody man right nope no exactly I mean no it’s it’s going to be really really fascinating because I think you know as as gritty as the Knicks were and as as good as the Bucks should have been maybe expected to be obviously with the injuries to both of them the talent difference there was just noticeable and I think on the Pacers side in this series specifically the Pacers had a more talented roster they just got outworked more often than not and in this case that will absolutely not be true the bers will not have the more talented roster but they will be much much deeper and that’s where I think the collective if they have a chance at all is going to have to be guys four through eight or nine or however many guys they end up running out there yeah it’s the thing that stands out to me the most is like before this Nick series the question was who’s OG guarding they have a premier Defender which stars he guarding in this coming series it’s like oh they could they could throw a number of Premier Defenders at either one of them and I’d be like okay yeah makes sense like it’s it’s just they’re so talented and all those guys are two-way players right like the conundrum the Pacers had a lot of this season before some trades was like do we lean into offense with this group or defense and we balanced is it too much in one way or the other like the Lakers that’s been a lot of their talk since they’ve been eliminated like they had a lot of defensive guys and offensive guys but very few could do both basically everyone who plays for the Celtics can do both right so like it’s really they don’t have a ton of like weaknesses their weaknesses is they beat themselves a lot right and so it’s kind of up to the Pacers to force them to do that and they did it twice already in the regular season they’ll tell you the same thing that the regular season doesn’t matter and I agree with them but you know they just from a perspective of confidence they won the series season series against the Knicks and bucks and look at that they’re in the Conference Finals so I think that’s going to stand out in the postseason so far the Celtics have the third best defensive rating ironically the top two teams are out it’s the magic and the Thunder which is very funny I didn’t realize that but it is what it is and the Celtics have the second best offensive rating behind only R Who probably the Pacers the Pacers by like three points per 100 possessions uh so they they are killing it on both ends as they do there’s a reason they’re eight and2 which they’ve lost it’s so funny they lost once to the Cavs and once to the Heat and everyone’s like oh they’re not playing good I’m like yeah they are they’re those games were bad that they lost but they’re crushing people this is the toughest test yet and by like a pretty good amount for the Pacers but I mean it’d be stupid to ride a team that we saw that could score 130 points and have this kind of team effort off at any point they’ve adapted well they every opponent they’ve played so far they adjust well throughout series even within games halberton rounding into form sakobs had six I don’t know pick your number level of like oh my God games in the playoffs like they can do it but the that’s where this is going to come down to me matchup wise right like clearly there were places in this series specifically like n Smith on Brunson and then SE who’s guarding Sean throughout the series like the matchups the little things I’ll try to find the Steve Jones tweet that I always you know kind of like to look at in the postseason that really kind of shined for the Pacers uh Steve Jones who used to be an assistant coach in the NBA and host the dunker spot the best ex’s andos basketball podcast by a lot by a lot tweet unbelievable amount I might even say yes F unbelievable he tweeted last year I bookmarked it forever ago playoffs are interesting because at some point in the series it stops being about how good your team is and it becomes can you solve this very specific thing right now and the Pacers in this series had to solve like well they’re defending us and crushing us on the glass how can we get around those things and in this next series I think a lot of those problems are going to be so hard to solve because all the answers run into like a different wall because of how good the Celtics are but again it’s I I can’t you can’t ride a team off anymore and you make it this far like everyone picked the Celtics over the Heat last year including me and then the Heat won like I don’t know who I’m gonna pick yet but it’s so when you get this far like a lot of that stuff Fades off and you just think well they can do it they’ve proven it they’re a high variance team it’s possible the Celtics just happen to be the toughest test yet they play and I think ultimately that’s the thing is you can disc credit the Pacers path to get here if you want and if the Celtics end up winning you can discredit the Celtics path to get to the finals they still did it like they still they still did it they they played enough to get to where they were in the seating they played the people who were in front of them and they beat them and they still had to adjust to the very specific things that were happening to them and I mean regardless of what the outcome is I think that that is still very valuable for a Pacers team who didn’t even want postseason expectations before the season started let you know an Eastern Conference Finals appearance right and so I mean no matter what I think that there’s going to be some extremely extremely valuable uh takeaways from this series from the the playoffs as a whole from the last couple series but then from this one too is how you go how you look going up against what is probably the Pati Kryptonite in two very big forwards that play both ends of the ball and uh then you’ve got Derrick White and Drew holiday as well and oh maybe Chris porzingis and T porzingis comes back these will be my two biggest questions entering the series if it’s Horford playing a bunch again he played a bunch and was awesome by the way he was so good at the end of C Series if it’s Horford on Miles Turner can the Pacers use that speed advantage to their advantage that was two advantages in a row can they use that to their benefit in any way because Turner’s been so good when this postseason at picking on good matchups he was amazing against Brook Lopez in games three and four at home for example that’s got to be a way the Pacers can get an edge offensively because one through four the Celtics can match up with anybody as we already talked about and so it’s going to be really hard to just obviously have an advantage anywhere else that’s early in the series porus presumably will come back at some point thing two that I’m the most curious about and I’m curious what your answer is who does tyres halberton guard on the Celtics Drew holiday I was gonna say it’s probably gonna be Drew holiday and he’s very good he actually wasn’t that impressive to me against Cleveland he was he’s a great player but like if like that’s the best option that’s how good this team is so it’s gonna be very I might actually say Derek white sorry to interrupt you because Drew might post up a lot more thanna say the thing about but the thing about white is they weave him threw a million screens to get these threes and and then he’s taken a beating I don’t know I think you have good Merit to both but those two questions are going to be fascinating to me and I guess to go further on the hurn one if he whoever he’s on can he do enough that that just doesn’t syn them immediately because that’s going to be so challenging yeah I mean just consider the type of players that we just talked about as the worst option on the floor for alurn to guard like this is not like Dante de chinzo Josh Hart or Jaylen Brunson this is two like Derek white was he had an argument for an All-Star spot this year to to a certain degree and Drew holiday before has two years ago right yeah exactly so you’re you’re looking at like okay cool I guess htt’s gonna guard borderline Allstar players who are going to wear him out on the other end it’s not going to be any crossmatching to take advantage of there either like that you nailed it with the first point for me is like if miles isn’t better than Horford then it’s not gonna matter yep but then beyond that it’s like what can guys like n Smith and seak do on the defensive end the N Smith series dude this is sick yes I I mean I hope that Boston like welcomes him back because that that would probably that would be super super cool for him to walk into that building and get praised for becoming the player he is despite it definitely not happening in Boston nor would it have happened in Boston the same way his trade via like the stones of Trades got them Drew holidays so they can they can look at that right right exactly yeah I mean no it’s just it’s neat there’s there’s a lot of different uh there’s a lot of different pieces here I I want to see a Miles Turner playoff uh Boston dunk again we we’ve we’ve got some good ones there oh shape reset Revenge series too oh yeah there you go but no I I’m just excited for more Pacers basketball and think that uh think the Pacers can can just try to hang in there best they can and try to learn just enjoy it I was dreading before the postseason like man it’s gonna be really hard to do a lot of podcast about the draft because their picks are so bad in a bad draft now I don’t have to do any podcast about the draft because the Pacers keep playing games there’s a lot of games to talk about I can’t wait for the series it’s going to be awesome I’ll be up in Boston we’ll see when I get there I decided to go back to watch kayin Clark Monday night we’ll see if that was a smart decision for me or not I’m predicting no it was not um and I actually am going to decide that this is the Daniel Ty series unfortunately he is not actually a part of it but he was the salary that made all this possible I can’t wait it’s going to be awesome I need to dig into the history of Pacer Celtic series rent thank you for the time everyone you’ve heard right here a million times he’s the closer he’ll be back next when what Pac for Celtics ends and whatever way it ends where can people find you and your musings on the NBA Pacers etc etc yeah find me on Twitter _ bow hopefully you don’t have to hear me like within the next week or so because I’m pretty sure game four does uh end Monday night next Monday night Monday night yep next Monday night so it might be 24 hours from the time that you’re or seven days from the time you’re hearing this but you know uh definitely will not be 24 hours unless yeah never mind find me find me on Twitter I’d be I I said this about any opponent the P could have like even when they were like questionable if they’ make the Puffs I’d be shocked if anyone in the league swept them like even Boston before the the playoffs started I was like no one’s going to sweep the Pacers their offensive variant is just too high to be swept by anybody and the way they play at home too like that’s just that’s that’s tough how that that would be crazy in this series they have not lost at home for two months and they’ve just snuck out one roadwi each series to get it done can that’s it’s unbelievable that were yes I had to sneak in one more I’m done saying the word for now someone’s going to get mad at someone tweeted at me the other day um being remembering how annoyed they were at the at the podcast where I said rubrick like a thousand times and I even commented on it in the episode it was last summer I think so uh yes people do notice that I am so sorry everyone back tomorrow uh with John caralis we already communicated doing a crossover preview of the series he host lotong Celtics and for my money he’s one of the best solo team hosts out there he’s unbelievably good at it uh looking forward to seeing him throughout the series see you guys in Boston for the Eastern Conference Finals that the pisses are part of enjoy the win everybody see you very soon

The Indiana Pacers took down the New York Knicks in Game 7 of the 2024 second round to earn a spot in the Eastern Conference Finals. How did they get it done? Host Tony East is joined by Rhett Bauer to break it all down, including hot shooting, overcoming the atmosphere, and more. Plus, a look ahead at the Boston Celtics.

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