The Boston Celtics came up short in their bid to make a historic comeback against the New York Knicks. They fell to the Knicks in Madison Square Garden in Game 6, ending their season and sending the Knicks to the Eastern Conference Finals.
New York advances to their first Eastern Conference Finals since 2000. Their opponent was the Indiana Pacers, and that’s who they will face again for a chance to get to the NBA Finals.
The Pacers beat the Knicks in 2000 to make their only NBA Finals appearance in franchise history. They would ultimately lose to the Los Angeles Lakers in six games.
Immediately after the Celtics ended their season with a loss, former star player Paul Pierce took to social media to troll the Knicks. He claims that the Pacers will make short work of the Knicks in the Eastern Conference Finals.
Paul Pierce calls out the Knicks “Pacers gonna pop y’all. Pacers gonna get y’all… y’all beat an injured Celtics team.”(h/t @Fullcourtpass ) pic.twitter.com/5L3Pln1Zdp
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) May 17, 2025
It’s not surprising to see Pierce come out and talk smack about the Knicks right after they took down the Celtics. He’s a huge Boston fan, so it makes sense that he’s going to pick the team that just beat the Celtics to lose.
“Pacers gonna pop ya’ll, though. Ya’ll know that right? Ya’ll know that the Pacers is gonna get ya’ll?” Pierce said in his video.
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The Pacers have been able to rest up as they waited for their opponent to be decided. It certainly won’t be easy for the Knicks to beat them in this series, even if they do have home-court advantage.
These two teams played each other in the second round of the playoffs a season ago, and the Pacers prevailed after winning Game 7 in Madison Square Garden.
New York was not fully healthy for that series. In fact, they had just one fully healthy starter by the time the series was over. They are fully healthy now, so that should fill them with a ton of confidence.
The Knicks have two new starters this year who should give them a big boost against Indiana, but the Pacers are very good offensively. New York will have to try to slow them down with their defense.
Pierce wants the Pacers to win this series, but he might not be wrong. This should be a very competitive series between two really good teams.
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