I think he is for Knicks fans. Even if his signature play so far was where he got away with a double dribble, and then bricked a two-pointer on which he got the world's luckiest bounce.

This rivalry isn’t going anywhere for a while. Maybe this will finally earn the Pacers more nationally televised games next season … but probably not.

Not sure if this is going on elsewhere, but here's the ticket inflation so far for Pacers home playoff games for one mid-level section from my personal experience:

• Game 1 vs. MIL: $97
• (No CLE data)
• Game 3 vs. NY: $250
• Game 6 vs. NY: $380

This is absurd. I've never seen a jump like that in-series. I assume the same seat will be $500 for Finals Game 3 and go up from there.

Long way to go until he earns that. I get your enthusiasm, but he's a very good player who is having a great playoffs. Not yet elite IMO.

It's very reminiscent of Reggie Miller when he busted out in the '94 playoffs. I'm still not sure if he was ever considered a "superstar." He just saved his best work for May-June.

Not sure Halliburton will ever take enough shots regularly to be on the best-of lists (41st in scoring this year).

Reggie is always in those top 75 of all time type lists I think. I would say he qualifies.

Shai. The torch has been passed.

I've barely seen the guy play -- hope to have a good couple weeks doing so.

Loving Shai this playoffs. The question the last two years has been can JW and/or Chet step up enough to be an effective #2 scoring option. They both looked great in the Minny series.

Yeah, OKC looks very tough right now. SGA looks unstoppable over the course of a 48 minute game, and OKC defense is so old school and something to behold.

Will be interesting to see how they do against the Knicks in the Finals.

McAfee getting into it with John Cougar Mellencamp
 

https://www.si.com/onsi/athlete-life...-calls-him-out

I enjoy watching McAfee's college field goal contests, but he's increasingly becoming as obnoxious as Stephen A. Mellencamp is right.

My wife and I have a quarter season package with the Thunder. Our seats are in the 200 level. Not down in 100 with all the moneyed swells, nor up in the upper level. I like them because they are close to the action, but also high enough up that you can actually see plays develop. For context, seats ran about $135 each in the regular season.

For the playoffs, we've gone to one game each series. But, I buy seats from the team rather than the resale market, which gets expensive. For the Denver series, we went to game 7 and tickets up in the 300s in the corner were about $150 each. For Minnesota, we went to game 5 and the same seats were $200 each. So, yesterday I logged into Ticketmaster when Finals tickets went on sale. Holy moly. Upper-level nosebleed seats directly behind the baskets were going for $600-$700 each from the team and $800 and up on resale. For chuckles I looked at floor level seats. All that was available was resale and some were going for as much as $11,000 each. I told my wife we got free seats in the Living Room section.

They have two players named Jalen (Jaylin) Williams. The one you are referring to is known as J-Dub and this season was an All Star, 3rd Team All NBA, and 2nd Team All Defense. He was fairly cold in the Denver series, but came on strong, as you note, against Minnesota. The other JW is known as J-Will and is a PF/small C off the bench.

My god. It does seem people in Indiana are getting gouged slightly worse. For additional context: $650 is what I pay per seat for my entire Colts season ticket.

The NBA -- it's FANtastic!

Small market finals. No LeBron, Luka, Giannis, Curry, Durant, Tatum, Jokic, Kawhi, AD, Wemby.

I think it will be a great matchup. Watching the Pacers swarm the Knicks just now defensively...should be fun to see them play the Thunder.

Personally, I'm tired of hearing about LeBron and Curry and the Joker.

For a fan of one of the teams, sure, it's the greatest thing since whatever. Not sure the league sees it that way though, I would be surprised if ratings are not weak.

Let’s f—king go!!

Maybe if Caitlin played it would raise ratings.

Flyover Country Series.

IMO this will be a short series. Thunder in 5.

Maybe, maybe not ... but that's what a whole lotta people said about Cleveland, and they got carved up like Thanksgiving turkey.

Let's get to it!

As a general matter, I try to root for a team as opposed to root against a team. But I'll make an exception for the Pacers. My only hope is that the Thunder wins at the Fieldhouse in a massive blowout. And that Reggie Miller is courtside for it.

We Pacers fans wouldn’t want you to feel any different.

The Pacers own this sorry-ass organization so bad that the departed/very successful coach doesn't even get the lead image.

Dude just signed a deal last year -- on the payroll till 2028.

Makes no sense. There has to be something internal to the team going on that led to this.

Like a GM who's happy to push accountability onto someone else. Thibodeau got the most one could out of that roster. After that clown show on the streets of NYC after the Celtics series, I thought they'd build a statue.

James Dolan is the owner of the Knicks.

What a joke of an organization. The team outperforms everyone's expectations, so time to fire the coach!

Some of the comments would lead me to incorrectly believe the Pacers have ever won an NBA Championship. Note: I’m a Jazz fan and they haven’t won one either.

Owning New York is equally enjoyable to us Hoosiers — there’s 32 years of history at play.

Ok that’s fair. Rivalries are def good for the game.

To be fair, the Pacers did win a few junior varsity championships, which apparently feature prominently at the Fieldhouse.

...And while the Pacers were beating up on the Los Angeles Stars and the Kentucky Colonels, the Knicks were playing in the varsity championship game, where they beat Wilt Chamberlain and Lakers. Twice.

This is what we hang at the Garden.

I’m almost 51 and wasn’t alive for those great Knicks years.

New York is 1-5 vs. Indiana in the playoffs over the past 27 years. It’s so bad that winning a second-round series is now celebrated like VJ Day.

I suppose they knew the end was near.

Brass balls.

Tyrese has half of LeBron’s 22 year total since April 29.

This didn't age well...

...unless you think that OKC now runs the table I guess.

I have no doubt Thunder will still win the series. Maybe it goes 6.

Give the Pacers credit for this win though, they even overcame several bad calls that went against them in the last 5 or 6 minutes.

Still possible.:D

I love the smell of hubris in the morning...

I’m still in this camp - But the biggest difference after the first game is if Indiana wins I will not be surprised

Tremendous win.

Thunder looked great in Game 2. What's sad is that OKC is so effective at and celebrated for playing the kind of defense that should be fundamental to ALL basketball but just isn't today. It's '80s-'90s basketball without the blood.

Meanwhile, in Knicks land. Looks like PJ Carlesimo is going to get banned from the Garden.

https://nypost.com/2025/06/11/sports...bodeau-firing/

I think James Dolan might be even less popular among Knicks fans than Reggie Miller.

Gosh, it might take six :o

2 to go. I got tix for Friday. Time to bury them.