Next Stop, South Beach! Indiana Pacers Defeat New York Knicks In 6 To Advance Eastern Conference Finals.
After a 9 year wait, the Indiana Pacers are headed back to the Eastern Conference finals with their 106-99 win over the New York Knicks. George Hill who missed game 5 with concussion-like symptoms returned back for the finale at home to avoid a game 7 on the road. Hill provided a much needed scoring boost netting 25 points that was missing in game 5; even grabbing 10 boards, equaling Tyson Chandler and Kenyon Martin’s rebounding output.
The story of game 6 was Lance Stephenson having a career-high in playoff points with 23 to put the finishing touches on his favorite team growing up in New York City. In the 4th quarter, he even scored 9 points of the Pacers 11-2 run in the final stages to finish the series, solidifying his big performance. Carmelo Anthony did all he could with scoring 39 points (29 FGA) but ran out of gas in the 4th quarter going 2-8 from the field with little to no help from the “others” in crunch-time.
Continue after the jump for a highlight video along with more of the recap.
The Pacers controlled the flow of the game in the first half and even led by as man as 12 in the early stages of the third quarter; but the Knicks roared back led by Iman Shumpert who scored 16 points (4-4) from beyond the arch. In the 4th quarter, he didn’t take a single shot after being the 2nd highest scorer for the team with his big 3rd quarter.
With this win, the Pacers remain undefeated at home during the postseason going 6-0 to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals, for the first time since 2004 where they met the champion Detroit Pistons. This year, they meet last year’s Champion, the Miami Heat who they had a memorable series last year with Chris Bosh out the majority of the series.
The Pacers won the season series this year 2-1 including handing Miami their last loss before their 27-game win streak. Indiana has an advantage only the Memphis Grizzlies have in the NBA to defeat Miami which is their inside scoring due to Miami’s lack of size in the paint. Game 1 is on Wednesday night at Miami which we’ll have a more in-depth preview for the series next week.
The New York Knicks will have the off-season to regroup starting with Amar’e Stoudemire regaining his health and the team having a full season together this time around with Iman Shumpert. The Knicks are currently stuck with the team they have, in comparison to the Miami Heat that will still be here with LeBron James and both the Chicago Bulls and Indiana Pacers getting their best players back in Derrick Rose and Danny Granger, respectively. Mike Woodson did an astonishing job this season leading the Knicks to their best season in over 13 years, winning the Atlantic Division and capturing their first 50-win season since 1994. I see NYK looking for a trade in the off-season and even a major free agent acquisition with a star set to pair with Carmelo Anthony next year.