The Indiana Pacers are up 3-1 on the New York Knicks in the Eastern Conference Finals, and look poised to send New York packing for the second postseason in a row, and are one win away from making their first Finals appearance since 2000.
Before the series, every single one of ESPN's panel of NBA experts picked the Knicks to win. Granted, they boast more star talent and looked incredible against the Boston Celtics, although the Pacers steamrolled both the Milwaukee Bucks and the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first two rounds.
The Pacers were counted out, and now the national talking heads have to backtrack a bit.
"If I hear one more word of criticism about Jalen Brunson, or the idea that somehow Jalen Brunson is the reason that the Knicks are not doing this and not doing that, I'm going to smash my head against a wall," said Mike Greenberg on Get Up. "Jalen Brunson has single-handedly dragged a very average team to the Eastern Conference Finals, and if they hadn't gotten as banged up as they did last year, this would be the second straight year they made the NBA's Final Four."
The Knicks are "very average"? Last we checked, they had two players make the All-NBA team this season, two players who have made All-Defensive Teams (one of which was worth five first-round picks!), and the ultimate glue guy in Josh Hart, who has admittedly been subpar this series.
The Pacers, on the other hand, have the most overrated player in the league, a single All-Star in Pascal Siakam, and not a single superstar, at least according to Stephen A. Smith.
While Haliburton did make the All-NBA Third Team for the second season in a row, he has been disrespected all season, and now that the Knicks, who might be the only team in the series these ESPN "experts" have actually watched, are losing, they don't know what to say.
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