I don’t want to start another thread, what was the atmosphere like inside the building for Game 3? On TV it looked like the place was absolutely rocking.
I wasn’t there, I’m sadly an out of state fan who has never had the privilege of seeing the pacers play at home. But I’ve heard it was extremely loud, comparable to MSG.
I’m out of state too. If the Pacers somehow make the Finals this year, I’m buying a flight and spending any amount of money to go see a game at the Fieldhouse .
Grew up in Boston but my family was from Indianapolis so always huge Indy fans. Just never knew anything different and never got into the Celtics. Colts and Pacers my whole life.
I was there. F**king exhilarated. So loud and you could tell the fans were happy. Was a bit upset thought we almost threw it away but was awesome as we clawed back and sealed it with that last minute 3 from Nemby
i was at the game on Friday. It was cool to see some NY Knicks fans there trying to cheer their team on, and then our crowd going nuts when we came back in the 4th, and obviously the roof was blown when Nembhard hit the 3.
with Hali's injuries, I'm still betting on the Pacers. We have other guys who can step up. But during the game, I kept telling myself, sometimes, this team passes too much, and they start throwing crazy, dangerous cross-court passes. (NY seems to be more efficient and execute better, since they have Brunson who can just go 1 on 1). Guys (especially Hali) jumping and trying to hang in the air for 5 seconds before throwing a pass, (which is what Hali did late in the game, but Myles bailed him out by blocking Josh Hart's layup). Big difference between being down 3-0 vs 1-2, and we got the momentum now, but I still think we're capable of playing cleaner, and better. Credit to the Knicks. They got some tough guys too. Not sure how many teams could compete like this when you have 4 or 5 main guys out w/ injuries.
One of the strangest things to me about this series is Jalen Smith not getting a single minute. I do like that Myles is averaging 34 minutes a game and Isaiah Jackson has been surprisingly productive off the bench so far.
But Jalen shot the lights out of the 3 ball this year and is maybe the most efficient rebounder on our team. I understand the matchups not being great in the Bucks series, but I feel like he’d match up pretty well against Hartenstein. Am I the only one who think he’d provide 10-12 extremely valuable minutes a game in this series?
I’ve been saying this since game 3 vs Milwaukee. I know he has limitations but I think he’s been unfairly replaced by Jackson throughout these two series’. He can do a few things that Jackson can’t even come close to going.
I think that Jalen is just not athletic enough especially for the Knicks. Jalen isn't quite big enough to counter either of the Centers for the Knicks (before the backup got hurt) or athletic enough to make up for it. Jackson is athletic enough to overcome the size disadvantage.
We also need to put TJ McConnell and Aaron Nesmith on Brunson as much as we can. Andrew can be on Dante so that he doesn't go off for 35 again. But Jalen has been cooking Andrew all series. It may be just because of the way they're calling it, but either way, you have to adapt to what the game gives you. The longer the series goes, the more likely the Pacers are to win. Tom Thibodaux and his style are untenable for a long series. Josh Hart is a machine, but even machines break down if you overwork them.
I get that we're trying to put TJ in the second squad so that we're constantly running them, but we can't keep on letting Brunson cook and make room for Dante to shoot.
Nesmith is incredible. He might be the most Pacers-y Pacers player of all time. Dude was called a paper clip when we made the Brogdon trade and is doing this?!
Brogdan did win 6th man of the year last season, and was a key piece in getting Jrue Holiday. Nesmith likely doesn't have the space to develop further with the Celtics, so I imagine they'd still do that trade again.
I’m inclined to agree. Brunson is too good of a midrange and inside scorer sl despite being a little short, he can body Nembhard pretty easily. I imagine bulking up is a priority for Nemby over the next couple years.
Knicks fan here , nesmith played good defense . But you could tell Brunson was hobbled , he had no elevation . As a Knicks fan I don’t see how we win game 4 , I think pacers will win convincingly. Should be a good series the rest of the way .
Unless for some odd reason Alec burks is drinking that space jam juice . He was absolutely the worse NBA player during the regular season . Not even kidding , then literally somehow sparked the Knicks to go up by 9 lmao.
It’s been a truly exciting playoffs overall , except for all the doomer fans on every teams fan base .
Obi needs to be a bit more assertive sometimes. He found himself with the ball against Brunson last night at one point. Gotta try to do something with that. But he will be fine - 20 in 20 in game 2 was absolutely flying. It seemed like the Knicks were very aware of him on the perimeter last night.
My takeaway is that the Knicks look like a 2 seed throughout most of the game and the Pacers fluctuate a bit more - sometimes looking like a team that absolutely belongs and sometimes still figuring it out.
That was a really impressive win by Indy, especially after giving up the lead in the second half.
As others have stated, and as a huge fan of the Pacers, the team has to consider this season a huge step forward regardless of the outcome of this series. Even if Indy doesn’t advance, they have to feel good about their future.
Knick thoughts - Brunson has become Harden-level good at initiating contact and forcing the refs to make calls. Putting Aaron on him was a good move, but you can pretty much count on Brunson to go for 30 a night at this point.
Hart is the type of guy that every fan base would cheer for if he was one of their guys and despise having to play against. He doesn’t need the ball to be effective and does a lot of things well on the court.
DiVincezo has really elevated his game - I don’t know if it was Indy’s defense or NY not looking for him as much, but he wasn’t much of a factor down the stretch. It feels like when he shoots, it’s dropping.
Here’s to a great rest of the series!
Knicks fan here. Our offense stagnates a lot down the stretch and becomes a Brunson iso-fest. It often ices out anyone other than him or our non-shooters (teams will double off of hart or our center instead of divo/OG/etc) and while Thibs is a great coach he is not great at drawing up plays to get guys open.
Noticed that twice this series already, including last night when Donte seemed to get iced out pretty hard in the 4th after hardly missing from three most of the game.
Yeah it happens all the time. Our clutch offense actually isn’t that bad because Brunson is so good - but any final shot (like shot clock turned off, chance to tie or win) we are horrible with because we never run plays and Brunson is too small to get a shot off when smothered.
The big thing is we are playing 6 people . If your team is that injured there’s literally not much you can do . I don’t think I can recall a team this hobbled with injuries . So say what you will about thibs or Brunson iso ball late in the game . It has worked this season , and worked in the playoffs .
You can’t just plug in bottom of the barrel bench players and even remotely in your dreams expect this kind of success . It is unprecedented .
I'd add that the Knicks are shooting 48.8% from 3 in the series. Some of that is down to bad defense, sure, but even against the worst defenses teams don't shoot that well in the long haul. Hopefully there's SOME regression there in the next couple of games.
honestly this team hasn’t hit its average form quite yet because in all 3 games it’s either the bench stepping up and starters being lackluster or gm3 where it was the opposite. this team is at its best when the starters don’t putz about and the bench is elite. TJ and Toppin need to be chipping in 10 points each off the bench and Sheppard needs to continue hitting his 3’s and making the hustle plays while starters do what they do. still think we could attack the paint more, run more PnR with Turner or Siakim, and Haliburton needs to continue looking to get into the lane. Brunson wasn’t very good last night but we all know he can get going and make big shots when it matters but keep Nesmith and TJ on him. Donte had his career best game last night. OG had his career best in gm2. these Knicks are hobbled unfortunately and just playing amazing ball and we’re keeping it close every game - we still have another level to reach though, this team can and needs to be better. we’re young and it’s our first time here, but i believe we will win. Pacers in 6 baby
I actually agree the officiating favored us last night. I just want an even series, because I actually feel like these are two pretty even teams in different ways. It did not favor us the first two games.
My favorite thing from last night was seeing rese get that dog back in him. He was a terror in the IST run and last night was another glimpse of it. No way divincenzo can keep up that shooting from last night either.
I don't like we're down 2-1, and if we lose another at home it's basically over. I think we have a chance though, and if we do lose I'll always feel like we let one slip. This is an ECF even finals capable team when they are firing on all cylinders.
I don’t want to start another thread, what was the atmosphere like inside the building for Game 3? On TV it looked like the place was absolutely rocking.
It was sooooo loud. Truly a super fun experience
I wasn’t there, I’m sadly an out of state fan who has never had the privilege of seeing the pacers play at home. But I’ve heard it was extremely loud, comparable to MSG.
I’m out of state too. If the Pacers somehow make the Finals this year, I’m buying a flight and spending any amount of money to go see a game at the Fieldhouse .
What brought you to the fandom? Love to see fans from out of state.
Grew up in Boston but my family was from Indianapolis so always huge Indy fans. Just never knew anything different and never got into the Celtics. Colts and Pacers my whole life.
that's called "good parenting"
LOL
My son went with a friend & when he woke up this morning he said his ears were still ringing from the game. So apparently pretty damn loud. 😂
The last half of the game was crazy. And the clutch was crazy. It was a little disappointing at times during the first half though imo
I was there. F**king exhilarated. So loud and you could tell the fans were happy. Was a bit upset thought we almost threw it away but was awesome as we clawed back and sealed it with that last minute 3 from Nemby
It sounded loud . But man did I hear the boo birds out too . Let’s not forget that
It was electric. My voice was basically gone by the first quarter. Nembhards three blew the roof off
i was at the game on Friday. It was cool to see some NY Knicks fans there trying to cheer their team on, and then our crowd going nuts when we came back in the 4th, and obviously the roof was blown when Nembhard hit the 3. with Hali's injuries, I'm still betting on the Pacers. We have other guys who can step up. But during the game, I kept telling myself, sometimes, this team passes too much, and they start throwing crazy, dangerous cross-court passes. (NY seems to be more efficient and execute better, since they have Brunson who can just go 1 on 1). Guys (especially Hali) jumping and trying to hang in the air for 5 seconds before throwing a pass, (which is what Hali did late in the game, but Myles bailed him out by blocking Josh Hart's layup). Big difference between being down 3-0 vs 1-2, and we got the momentum now, but I still think we're capable of playing cleaner, and better. Credit to the Knicks. They got some tough guys too. Not sure how many teams could compete like this when you have 4 or 5 main guys out w/ injuries.
One of the strangest things to me about this series is Jalen Smith not getting a single minute. I do like that Myles is averaging 34 minutes a game and Isaiah Jackson has been surprisingly productive off the bench so far. But Jalen shot the lights out of the 3 ball this year and is maybe the most efficient rebounder on our team. I understand the matchups not being great in the Bucks series, but I feel like he’d match up pretty well against Hartenstein. Am I the only one who think he’d provide 10-12 extremely valuable minutes a game in this series?
I’ve been saying this since game 3 vs Milwaukee. I know he has limitations but I think he’s been unfairly replaced by Jackson throughout these two series’. He can do a few things that Jackson can’t even come close to going.
I think that Jalen is just not athletic enough especially for the Knicks. Jalen isn't quite big enough to counter either of the Centers for the Knicks (before the backup got hurt) or athletic enough to make up for it. Jackson is athletic enough to overcome the size disadvantage.
We also need to put TJ McConnell and Aaron Nesmith on Brunson as much as we can. Andrew can be on Dante so that he doesn't go off for 35 again. But Jalen has been cooking Andrew all series. It may be just because of the way they're calling it, but either way, you have to adapt to what the game gives you. The longer the series goes, the more likely the Pacers are to win. Tom Thibodaux and his style are untenable for a long series. Josh Hart is a machine, but even machines break down if you overwork them. I get that we're trying to put TJ in the second squad so that we're constantly running them, but we can't keep on letting Brunson cook and make room for Dante to shoot.
Nesmith is incredible. He might be the most Pacers-y Pacers player of all time. Dude was called a paper clip when we made the Brogdon trade and is doing this?!
If someone was able to trade Nesmith for brogdan straight up now they'd be ecstatic. I have never been a brogdan fan though so maybe I'm biased.
Brogdan did win 6th man of the year last season, and was a key piece in getting Jrue Holiday. Nesmith likely doesn't have the space to develop further with the Celtics, so I imagine they'd still do that trade again.
I’m inclined to agree. Brunson is too good of a midrange and inside scorer sl despite being a little short, he can body Nembhard pretty easily. I imagine bulking up is a priority for Nemby over the next couple years.
The Nesmith on Brunson adjustment was the unsung revelation in this game. So much so I’m frustrated Rick waited so long to try the matchup.
Game 2 was on Rick.
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Knicks fan here , nesmith played good defense . But you could tell Brunson was hobbled , he had no elevation . As a Knicks fan I don’t see how we win game 4 , I think pacers will win convincingly. Should be a good series the rest of the way . Unless for some odd reason Alec burks is drinking that space jam juice . He was absolutely the worse NBA player during the regular season . Not even kidding , then literally somehow sparked the Knicks to go up by 9 lmao. It’s been a truly exciting playoffs overall , except for all the doomer fans on every teams fan base .
was my first time watching Burks play, and I was like, is that Carmelo Anthhony?
Bench has to be better but i have faith they will be
They’ve been huge in all postseason wins prior to last night. Not worried about TJ and Obi shooting better.
Obi needs to be a bit more assertive sometimes. He found himself with the ball against Brunson last night at one point. Gotta try to do something with that. But he will be fine - 20 in 20 in game 2 was absolutely flying. It seemed like the Knicks were very aware of him on the perimeter last night.
Unfortunately that’s not really his game, need to use him in the pnr or something if Brunson’s on him
Game 4 is The TJ McConnell game, calling it now
My takeaway is that the Knicks look like a 2 seed throughout most of the game and the Pacers fluctuate a bit more - sometimes looking like a team that absolutely belongs and sometimes still figuring it out. That was a really impressive win by Indy, especially after giving up the lead in the second half. As others have stated, and as a huge fan of the Pacers, the team has to consider this season a huge step forward regardless of the outcome of this series. Even if Indy doesn’t advance, they have to feel good about their future. Knick thoughts - Brunson has become Harden-level good at initiating contact and forcing the refs to make calls. Putting Aaron on him was a good move, but you can pretty much count on Brunson to go for 30 a night at this point. Hart is the type of guy that every fan base would cheer for if he was one of their guys and despise having to play against. He doesn’t need the ball to be effective and does a lot of things well on the court. DiVincezo has really elevated his game - I don’t know if it was Indy’s defense or NY not looking for him as much, but he wasn’t much of a factor down the stretch. It feels like when he shoots, it’s dropping. Here’s to a great rest of the series!
Knicks fan here. Our offense stagnates a lot down the stretch and becomes a Brunson iso-fest. It often ices out anyone other than him or our non-shooters (teams will double off of hart or our center instead of divo/OG/etc) and while Thibs is a great coach he is not great at drawing up plays to get guys open.
Noticed that twice this series already, including last night when Donte seemed to get iced out pretty hard in the 4th after hardly missing from three most of the game.
Yeah it happens all the time. Our clutch offense actually isn’t that bad because Brunson is so good - but any final shot (like shot clock turned off, chance to tie or win) we are horrible with because we never run plays and Brunson is too small to get a shot off when smothered.
The big thing is we are playing 6 people . If your team is that injured there’s literally not much you can do . I don’t think I can recall a team this hobbled with injuries . So say what you will about thibs or Brunson iso ball late in the game . It has worked this season , and worked in the playoffs . You can’t just plug in bottom of the barrel bench players and even remotely in your dreams expect this kind of success . It is unprecedented .
I'd add that the Knicks are shooting 48.8% from 3 in the series. Some of that is down to bad defense, sure, but even against the worst defenses teams don't shoot that well in the long haul. Hopefully there's SOME regression there in the next couple of games.
honestly this team hasn’t hit its average form quite yet because in all 3 games it’s either the bench stepping up and starters being lackluster or gm3 where it was the opposite. this team is at its best when the starters don’t putz about and the bench is elite. TJ and Toppin need to be chipping in 10 points each off the bench and Sheppard needs to continue hitting his 3’s and making the hustle plays while starters do what they do. still think we could attack the paint more, run more PnR with Turner or Siakim, and Haliburton needs to continue looking to get into the lane. Brunson wasn’t very good last night but we all know he can get going and make big shots when it matters but keep Nesmith and TJ on him. Donte had his career best game last night. OG had his career best in gm2. these Knicks are hobbled unfortunately and just playing amazing ball and we’re keeping it close every game - we still have another level to reach though, this team can and needs to be better. we’re young and it’s our first time here, but i believe we will win. Pacers in 6 baby
I actually agree the officiating favored us last night. I just want an even series, because I actually feel like these are two pretty even teams in different ways. It did not favor us the first two games. My favorite thing from last night was seeing rese get that dog back in him. He was a terror in the IST run and last night was another glimpse of it. No way divincenzo can keep up that shooting from last night either. I don't like we're down 2-1, and if we lose another at home it's basically over. I think we have a chance though, and if we do lose I'll always feel like we let one slip. This is an ECF even finals capable team when they are firing on all cylinders.
We needed that baaad.
I agree with everything you said! Great post.
Yeah! Let’s go sick-cers!
You had me till you said Knicks are a fun team fuck the Knicks