INDIANA PACERS (2) vs NEW YORK KNICKS (0)
I didn't even include any exclamation marks in the above subtitle, because I personally am not surprised that the Knicks are in a 2-0 hole, even if they do have homecourt advantage. Indiana disappointed me in the last round, in that they won even though I predicted and was rooting for the Cavs. But it's like, fool me once type shit.
As for NYK, I'm not going to get ahead of myself and say okay, they're going to lose to series, even if it does very much look that way. When they took those two games in Boston, it was on last-second plays. But the Pacers are like straight up beating these dudes, you know, making history against niggas type shit.
I've been saying all season that the Knicks are overtalented, that Miles Bridges was a better acquisition for this roster than KAT, and as such they should have given the Bridges experiment more time before running out and chasing Karl. James Dolan has obviously not been incepted. If he were, he would have known that the era of impromptu superteams is over.
In the whole history of the NBA, an instant superteam only worked once in terms of instantly producing a championship. That of course was the 2008 Celtics, and it was because it's star were actually compatible (and very hungry). If the Knicks were actually thinking instead of starchasing, they would have went after a defense-first C instead of KAT. And my further argument is that, dickridin' a player who isn't compatible with your roster isn't becoming of a professional braintrust at all.
So with that in mind, lol @ NYK. I can't help but to get at least a few 'I told you so's in.
Beating the up-and-coming Pistons and the limp Celtics (and more or less struggling on both occasions) was not proper preparation to face Indiana, and Thibs is overrated. The Pacers are like an entire team that has caught the Steph spirit. Tyrese Haliburton may also be overrated, so to speak. But he has arguably the most-overachieving supporting cast in the NBA.
MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES (0) vs OKC THUNDER (2)
I don't feel like digging back right now, but I'm pretty sure I said at the beginning of the season that, if healthy, the Thunder are likely to bring home the gold. A lot of other people probably said the same thing, like that isn't actually a bold prediction. Sometimes the team that's supposed to win actually does.
OKC are the exemplary braintrust right now, because they've been clear contenders throughout the season yet not paying any luxury tax, and even with SGA, you know, he may be a consensus superstar now, but they took a flier making him the leader of this squad when they did.
Meanwhile the Timberwolves, who do have one of the higher tax bills, are not contenders, regardless of what any pundit says. There's nothing they've done throughout this entire postseason that screams champion.
I'm not trying to place the blame on anybody, but if I were to make one change to that roster, it'd likely be minimizing its dependency on Mike Conley. Again, I have nothing against Conley. You may not hear his name come up in those father time conversations, but he's actually one of the older players in the league. Dude was deadass teammates with Allen Iverson and is still around, in 2025, logging like 30 mins/game in the postseason. You have to respect that. It ain't like he's an old dawg who's been relegated to cheerleading.
But if you're going to pay the luxury tax, you know what I'm saying? I don't mean dumbing out like the Suns, but I already said at the end of last season, after they lost to the Mavs, that Minny needed to upgrade from Mike. Trading KAT for Randle and DiVincenzo was a sound move but not all that they needed to do. More than anything, they needed to upgrade at the point. Duh.
Conley is like an anachronism in today's NBA. The Timberwolves play that kind of position-less basketball that most teams do. So, you know what I'm saying? Maybe they need to spend extra and get a player more compatible with that style, a more appropriate backcourt running make for Anthony Edwards. I'm not going to jump off a ledge and say the Pacers are going to beat the Knicks, but I will say that about OKC's chances over Minny.
It's probably better like this anyway. If the Knicks make it to all the way Finals and start doing that Laurel & Hardy shit, some New Yorkers, like those who aren't used to being disappointed like that, may have a heart attack or something. Oh, the drama. And speaking of Laurel & Hardy yes, it did kinda seem that NYK really gave Indy a chance to come back at the end of the Game 1. Man, the NBA. The type of anomalies that back in the old days no one would expect from professional athletes or that they would get chastised for are now so common that they can happen multiple times in a single postseason alone. Ben Simmons truly was a scapegoat.
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