If Indiana is going to pull off a second-round upset against the Knicks, the Pacers’ best chance will be … pace.
“That’s the path for the Pacers, to get out and play fast and make it in the 110-to-118 range,” one Eastern Conference scout told The Post.
“Play fast,” another scout laughed. “They have to play fast. I mean, that’s their whole shtick.
“If Indiana is taking the ball out of the basket, walking it up, that’s the Knicks’ advantage. So if the Knicks continue to play good team basketball and they’re scoring, then that’s going to be advantage New York. … The play-fast thing just sticks out; that’s the essential element.”
The Pacers led the league in scoring and were second in pace behind Tyrese Haliburton.
They cracked 100 points in every game but one.
But the playoffs are different, held to 94 and 92 in the two games they lost in their six-game series win against Milwaukee, a team with glaring defensive deficiencies. The Knicks, on the other hand, are defensively dominant.
“[The Pacers] like to play fast, and [the Knicks] need to deal with [Haliburton]. Who is going to be the guy to guard him? He’s a big, long point guard. That’ll be a problem,” ex-76ers scout Michael VandeGarde told The Post. “[But] the Knicks control pace well. I don’t think the Knicks want to play in the 110s, 120s. I don’t think that’s [Tom] Thibodeau. I don’t think that’s Jalen Brunson.
“They want to grind it out and they’re super good at grinding it out. They’ve got tougher dudes that have better focus and make more consistent gritty tough plays. … That’s the difference in the game.”
But will the refs let them play that way?
VandeGarde felt that will be a big key, after the Last 2 Minute Reports showed several blown calls that favored the Knicks and the officials allowing a physical game that played into New York’s hands.
“The referees were letting them play the style for the Knicks to be successful, and that’s gonna be a huge, huge piece to this next series,” VandeGarde said.
“If you let New York just grind gritty, foul, shove, push — and that’s how Thibs wants to play — Indiana is gonna have trouble, just like the Sixers. And I don’t think Indiana is nearly as talented as the Sixers. So, if they can impose their will and the referees let them do that, they should win.”
A Western scout cited Isaiah Hartenstein getting out to contest Myles Turner’s 3s and who guards Brunson (possibly Aaron Nesmith) as keys.
But his most important key will be OG Anunoby’s defense on Pascal Siakam.
“I assume OG is going to be matched with him, and that’s a great matchup,” the scout said. “[The Pacers] need Siakam to be as good as he was in the prior series; they need his production. But for the Knicks that’s a good matchup.
“That’s a fair matchup. I’m not saying he’s going to stop him, but one of the key guys for the Pacers is [Siakam], and you have this reputedly very good defender in Anunoby. And he’s been everything he’s cracked up to be defensively. The numbers bear that out.”
