History aside, Indiana Pacers, New York Knicks reset for NBA Eastern Conference Finals

NEW YORK – The Indiana Pacers and New York Knicks are no strangers to each other in the National Basketball Association (NBA) post-season, given that the former eliminated the latter last season to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals.

Now, a case could be made that this season’s conference finals matchup is an unexpected one, given the massive roadblocks that each team faced in the semi-finals.

Fourth-seeded Indiana recorded their second straight five-game series win by dispatching the top-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers, while third-seeded New York upended the defending champions Boston Celtics in six games.

Tyrese Haliburton and the Pacers will renew acquaintances against Jalen Brunson and the Knicks on May 21 (May 22, Singapore time) in New York for Game 1 of their best-of-seven series.

Haliburton got the better of the matchup last season and played the role of the hero (or villain, depending on your point of view) in Game 7 at Madison Square Garden.

He punctuated his team’s series victory by wearing a hoodie with an image of Reggie Miller’s infamous 1994 “choke” taunt to Knicks superfan Spike Lee while speaking with reporters after the game.

Haliburton and Brunson would meet up again approximately one month later at Madison Square Garden – this time in a World Wrestling Entertainment ring. Although the “chance” encounter was scripted and resulted in nothing more than a stare-down, it still had New York fans on the edge of their seats.

“It was obviously something that he wanted to do and the way he played last year in the play-offs, I mean, it was fitting,” Brunson said.

“And so, he played well in the Garden. Obviously, Knicks fans and Pacers fans, they go back and forth. But I think he did a great job with it last year, but now we’re moving on.”

Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said as much on May 20: “The challenge is always the same, it’s no different whether it’s a game or a series – it always resets.

“Each game is different. You have to prepare for that particular game. You’re not carrying anything over from the previous series or the previous game. You just have to be right and ready when the ball goes up (on Wednesday).”

The Knicks won two of the three meetings between the teams this season, with Karl-Anthony Towns leading the way. The five-time All-Star averaged a robust 30.3 points and 12.0 rebounds in those three games for New York.

Towns, however, made just three of 19 attempts from three-point range in the series versus the Celtics.

Bennedict Mathurin enjoyed a career night in the lone Pacers’ win in the regular-season series against the Knicks. He recorded career-bests in three-pointers (seven) and points (38) in Indiana’s 132-121 victory on Nov 10.

Mathurin was not alone, as Haliburton collected 35 points and 14 assists for the Pacers.

While Haliburton has been a regular contributor in the play-offs, Indiana pride themselves on spreading the wealth.

“People look at play-off victories and point to great scoring performances and triple-doubles and stuff like that,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. “But series-defining plays oftentimes are loose-ball effort plays.”

Meanwhile, in the Western Conference Finals on May 20, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 31 points as the Oklahoma City Thunder rallied to defeat the Minnesota Timberwolves 114-88 and grab a 1-0 lead in the series.

A confident Minnesota looked in the mood for an upset against the top seeds after leading for most of the first two quarters to take a 48-44 half-time lead.

But Oklahoma City came roaring back in the third, outscoring the visitors 32-18 to open up what turned out to be a decisive 76-66 lead heading into the last period.

“Honestly, we were a bit rusty in the first half, but we shouldn’t be,” Gilgeous-Alexander told ESPN in an on-court interview.

“We were missing lay-ups, free throws. We just needed to keep being aggressive and trust our work.” REUTERS, AFP