I was almost as shocked to read the Knicks and Pacers hadn’t played one another in the NBA playoffs in 13 years as I was by the ending of “The Sixth Sense”. For anyone over 30, Knicks and Pacers brings back so many memories- Reggie Miller going off at MSG, Larry Johnson’s 4 point play, Ewing finger roll refusing to go into the basket, just to name a few- that the series that started today inevitably makes you hopeful for a matchup worth remembering. In Game 1 the Pacers got a key win for two reasons: 1) they are a great home team 2) the Knicks have never won a playoff series after losing Game 1 at home (0-5 in franchise history). While the Knicks can get the momentum back with a win on Tuesday, there are quite a few reasons for concern:
Roy Hibbert (14 points, 8 rebounds and 5 blocked shots) owned Tyson Chandler (4 points and 3 rebounds) in a battle between two of the elite defensive centers left in the league (Marc Gasol, Joakim Noah are the only members of the club now that Dwight Howard has become a caricature of his former self). Hibbert was exceptional throughout the game defensively, and scored some key basket late in the game. While Chandler played well in Game 6 against Boston, he still seems far from 100% physically.
In the last week, Carmelo Anthony (10-28 shooting on his way to 27 “quiet” points) and JR Smith (4 for 15 shooting) look as dependable as the Kardsahian sisters taking a chemistry exam, while the Knicks wouldn’t be here without them, they are falling short when the team needs them the most. While Carmelo did not get some key calls down the stretch, he continues to be very poor from the 3 point line (1 for 4 today) and is black hole when he gets the ball. The Knicks at least continue to get great performances from PG Raymond Felton (18 points on 8-12 shooting) who is making everyone forget how out of shape he was in Portland.
Pacers guard Lance Stephenson has been at least as good as Knicks’ wonder kid Iman Shumpert these playoffs, but receives much less hype because he doesn’t play in New York. Stephenson happens to be the all time leading scorer at the high school level in New York State’s history. He had a great game in his return at Madison Square Garden (where he played many times as a member of Lincoln high school in Brooklyn) with 11 points and a very impressive (for a guard) 13 rebounds.
Both the Knicks and Pacers came off rather tough 1stround series, and it’s no surprise the Pacers looked much less fatigued from it considering they only have 1 player over 27 on their roster (David West) while the Knicks only have 1 player under 27 (Shumpert). On paper, the Knicks have a huge edge over the Pacers in bench play, but in Game 1 DJ Augustin (16 points mainly thanks to 4-5 on 3 pointers) and Tyler Hainsbrough made a bigger impact on the game than Kidd, Martin and Smith.
The Knicks have shown they could rally after a tough loss earlier this week, on Tuesday they will face even more pressure than they did last Friday in Boston. Their performance will determine if we get as tough a series as the ones we saw between Pacers and Knicks in the 90s.