Indiana has 2 legit all-stars in Siakim & Halliburton. Myles Turner isn't that far from it in a league with a dearth of power big men.

Yet somehow all of the experts at ESPN picked the Knicks. The Knicks have Brunson and the gang. OG, JHart, Hartenstein, and Hartenstein are all pretty good players, whose best asset is their collective scrappiness. And Mitch is rounding into shape. McBride is emerging as a 3&D pest with some upside.

Why the Knicks should have an easier time with the Pacers than the Sixers:
* There is no dominant presence like Embiid on this team. Embiid had face paralysis and knee that was oozing for the first few games, yet it took everything we had to contain him.
* There is no guard on the Pacers as quick and explosive as Maxey.
* Position by Position, we seem to match up reasonably well - we outsize them at center. If anyone knows Siakim's tendencies, it'd be his former teammates OG and Achiuwa especially, since he was likely matched up against him in practice daily. And we have enough scrappy play from McBride/Devo to give Halliburton different looks.

On the other hand...
* Turner had an excellent 1st round series - he was a bit too quick against Lopez and Portis. I'm not so worried about Hartenstein keeping up, but let's see if Mitch's overall conditioning and wonky ankle can keep up. On defense, Turner is an elite shot blocker and is far more mobile than the impaired Embiid.
* The Knicks may need to play a traditional PF in Achiuwa to match up with Siakim, which means someone on the Knicks (DiVincenzo/McBride) will have to sit, moving Hart to "SG". If this happens we may lose some shooting and spacing.
* Halliburton may not be as explosive as Maxey, but he just needs a step to cause the defense to cave in and make a pass - he doesn't need to blow all the way by you and get to the basket. It should be a different dynamic.
* The Indy supporting case on paper is quite deep.

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technomaster wrote:I've been struggling for the last few days on why I think the Knicks should definitely beat the Pacers.

Indiana has 2 legit all-stars in Siakim & Halliburton. Myles Turner isn't that far from it in a league with a dearth of power big men.

Yet somehow all of the experts at ESPN picked the Knicks. The Knicks have Brunson and the gang. OG, JHart, Hartenstein, and Hartenstein are all pretty good players, whose best asset is their collective scrappiness. And Mitch is rounding into shape. McBride is emerging as a 3&D pest with some upside.

Why the Knicks should have an easier time with the Pacers than the Sixers:
* There is no dominant presence like Embiid on this team. Embiid had face paralysis and knee that was oozing for the first few games, yet it took everything we had to contain him.
* There is no guard on the Pacers as quick and explosive as Maxey.
* Position by Position, we seem to match up reasonably well - we outsize them at center. If anyone knows Siakim's tendencies, it'd be his former teammates OG and Achiuwa especially, since he was likely matched up against him in practice daily. And we have enough scrappy play from McBride/Devo to give Halliburton different looks.

On the other hand...
* Turner had an excellent 1st round series - he was a bit too quick against Lopez and Portis. I'm not so worried about Hartenstein keeping up, but let's see if Mitch's overall conditioning and wonky ankle can keep up. On defense, Turner is an elite shot blocker and is far more mobile than the impaired Embiid.
* The Knicks may need to play a traditional PF in Achiuwa to match up with Siakim, which means someone on the Knicks (DiVincenzo/McBride) will have to sit, moving Hart to "SG". If this happens we may lose some shooting and spacing.
* Halliburton may not be as explosive as Maxey, but he just needs a step to cause the defense to cave in and make a pass - he doesn't need to blow all the way by you and get to the basket. It should be a different dynamic.
* The Indy supporting case on paper is quite deep.

Sixers have so much wingspan. Indiana is one of the few teams that lack positional size advantage over the Knicks. They can’t put length on Brunson.

Their players lack playoff experience. They took the series vs the depleted Bucks. But they lack war zone battle scars. I don’t think they will match the Knicks intensity for several games. Much like last years Cleveland series.

Two Allstars is factually accurate, but I don’t think Siakam is a PlusMinus guy. He has money stats but lacks substance. I expect him to be this series’ Tobias Harris.

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ToddTT wrote:Is this game on the radio too?

98.7 FM in NYC