The New York Knicks, who have not reached the NBA final since 1999, were again short and dropped back-to-back games to the Indiana Pacers when a championship chance seemed to have taken hold of.
How did a team that many expected to suddenly look from home?
The answer could be in fundamental mismatches who plagued them during the series.
Sportradio personality Mike Francesa recently eliminated what went wrong for New York during his podcast performance.
“The Bottom Line – Knicks had trouble matching defensively, they had trouble processing the pace that Indiana played and Indiana hurt them in various ways in the series. This series was a profitable series,” Francesa noted.
“They had problems processing the pace that Indiana played, and Indiana hurt them in the series in different ways.”@Mikeefrancesa Talk about how the defense of the Knicks was precious in their series against the Pacers 🏀 pic.twitter.com/qwb2ipvdx9
– The French Mike Podcast (@francesapodcast) June 1, 2025
The series was absolutely for picking up if the Knicks had made better adjustments. Both teams showed clear strengths, but Indiana owned that one player New York simply could not comprehend the defensive end.
The Knicks struggled everywhere defensive and never received the breakthrough performance they needed from their top players.
Coach Tom Thibodeau made a critical decision by Game One and chose to match the pace of Indiana instead of dictating a slower pace.
This strategy failed poorly. New York is in 27th place in pace during the regular season with 97.64 assets per 48 minutes, while the pacers were seventh at 100.76.
While the Knicks found success that pushed the pace against Detroit and Boston, it would have been to delay the smarter approach against Indiana.
New York did not succeed in following Pacers players who leak in the transition, whether after turnover, missed shots or incoming plays.
Thibodeau missed opportunities to adjust his strategy and demand that players fall back to limit fastbreak opportunities.
The numbers tell the story. Indiana defeated New York in Fastbreak -points each match, a total of 106 Fastbreak -points over six games compared to only 48 for the Knicks.
Following: Skip Bayless predicts which team NBA Finals will win
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