Knicks beat the Pacers in six.

I’m excited for this series. In the first two games, the Madison Square Garden is gonna be rocking, considering this is a series we got last year, but it got ruined by injuries. Jalen Brunson, OG Anunoby, Julius Randle, Bojan Bogdanovic, and Mitchell Robinson were all banged up with injuries. Now the Knicks have a healthy version of Brunson, Anunoby, and Robinson while they traded Bogdanovic for Mikal Bridges and considering Randle was out, for this series, they traded Donte DiVincenzo for Karl-Anthony Towns. But Indiana has also improved a lot. They’re 8-2 in these playoffs so far, so let's break it down.

My first thought of this matchup was will the Knicks be able to guard the Pacers fast paced offense. Tyrese Haliburton didn’t start off the season well, but he still had a great year and I think should be all-NBA. The Pacers have a bunch of guys who can light it up from three and great depth. It’s crazy that in 2025, a team that made the Conference Finals has had no player averaging over twenty points a game. Pascal Siakam is their leader at 18.8 PPG. The Knicks will have to be aggressive getting back when the Pacers are in transition. For the Knicks defense, OG and Bridges have been all-defensive level on that end. Both Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum were not good offensively and I thought a lot of that was the defense of Bridges and Anunoby. I’d imagine OG is on Siakam for a lot of this series and they put Josh Hart on Haliburton as that’s what they did for a lot of this season. Hart is very aggressive defensively and is great at navigating screens, so they could go over screens.

If the Pacers want to win this series, they are going to have to find a way to slow down Jalen Brunson. Andrew Nembhard has been an all-defensive caliber defender this year, but Brunson is a top ten player in this league. The Pacers have been a great defensive team these playoffs and the Knicks haven’t been great offensively. However, I do think we will see the Knicks have their best offensive series yet. In the regular season, the Knicks had the fifth best offense in the league, and they haven’t been great offensively in the playoffs so far. Karl-Anthony Towns needs to step up if the Knicks want to win this series. Myles Turner and Pascal Siakam are solid defenders, but KAT needs to prove he can win in the playoffs. OG and Bridges are gonna have to be aggressive looking to score the basketball and Hart is a great screener and it will be key to see how Indiana guards him when he doesn’t have the ball. Miles McBride will need to hit shots and Mitchell Robinson will need to bully the smaller Pacers on the offensive glass.

Thunder beat the Wolves in seven.

Oh, you thought I was excited for Knicks-Pacers? Well, I’m twenty times more excited for this series. Two of the best young stars in the game, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Anthony Edwards go back and forth in a seven game series?! This series is going to be defensive minded and very physical as these have been the top two defenses in the playoffs so far. I do think both teams match up solid against each other, so let’s break this down.

Minnesota’s defense is really good. Rudy Gobert is always a DPOY candidate, but Jaden McDaniels, Julius Randle, Anthony Edwards, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, and Donte DiVincenzo have all been great on that end. Meanwhile, the Thunder have been solid these playoffs offensively, but a little disappointing. They had a couple elite games offensively, including scoring 149 points in game two against Denver, but Minnesota is by far the best defense OKC has played so far, especially considering they have McDaniels, DiVincenzo, Ant, and NAW to guard SGA. However, outside of Feb. 13, the Thunder’s offense was great in the other three meetings these two teams had in the regular season and a lot of that was SGA being brilliant. He averaged 35.0 PPG on 51/55/83 splits. If he is doing that in this series, call it wraps for Minnesota. McDaniels will be the primary defender for SGA and he’s gonna need to play similar to how he did against Luka Doncic. Expect Anthony Edwards to start on Jalen Williams, Mike Conley on Lu Dort, Julius Randle on Chet Holmgren, and Rudy Gobert on Isaiah Hartenstein. Minnesota is great at helping and recovering and that will have to continue in this series if they want to win. If not, we could see nights where Alex Caruso, Cason Wallace, Lu Dort, Aaron Wiggins, and their shooters light it up from three. Overall, I do think Minnesota matches up pretty well with Oklahoma City, but the Thunder will have a couple nights where their offense is unstoppable.

Now onto Oklahoma City’s defense vs. Minnesota’s offense. The main guy to worry about is obviously Anthony Edwards, but I actually think Julius Randle could be their leading scorer this series. The Thunder have all the defenders in the world for Ant and it is going to be challenging for him to create good looks. Alex Caruso, Cason Wallace, Lu Dort, Jalen Williams, are all great/elite defenders who will spend a lot of time on Ant. Expect Dort to start on Ant, SGA on Mike Conley, Chet on McDaniels, JDub on Randle, and Hartenstein on Gobert. This may be a plus for McDaniels as he could shoot the three, drive, and be an off-ball cutter as we’ve seen that a lot in the playoffs so far, but Chet is a great rim protector, so McDaniels will have to hit threes consistently or else he could be a liability offensively. JDub is more of a wing defender, but Randle is a lot bigger than a normal wing. He is strong and could score with the ball in his hands. We’ve seen it all postseason. I think Randle could win this matchup as he has four inches on him and 40 lbs on him. Lastly, Hartenstein cannot leave Gobert too much as he is an elite vertical spacer. He can catch lobs at an elite level. Off the bench, Naz Reid, Donte DiVincenzo, and Nickiel Alexander-Walker all have to hit shots. I trust Reid, but DiVincenzo and NAW have been inconsistent from three in the playoffs so far, and it doesn’t make it easier that the Thunder are great at helping and recovering just like Minnesota is. Especially when Randle and Ant get downhill, we will see OKC defenders help on him.