Buckle up, Knicks fans, the long-downtrodden franchise’s first trip to the Eastern Conference finals in a quarter-century finally has arrived, beginning with what is sure to be an electric atmosphere for Game 1 on Wednesday night at MSG.
With the top-seeded Cavaliers and the defending champion Celtics at home honing their golf and pickleball games, the Knicks drew a historically and recently familiar foe in the NBA’s conference final round.
Reggie Miller and the Pacers, of course, were a common opponent with six playoff meetings in eight seasons from 1993-2000. Tyrese Haliburton and the present-day Pacers also knocked the banged-up Knicks out of the second round in seven games one year ago.
Here are three things that need to happen for the Knicks to win the series and advance to the NBA Finals for the first time since 1999, and three reasons why they could lose it:
