The New York Knicks finished off the Boston Celtics in Game 2 of their Eastern conference series on Friday night after dropping two straight games and the franchise advanced to the second round of the playoffs for the first time in over 10 years.
The team will be back in action quickly on Sunday, as the Knicks will host the Indiana Pacers for Game 1 of the second round at Madison Square Garden. The team hadn't won a playoff series since 2000 and now faces one of the more balanced teams in the Eastern conference in the Pacers. Carmelo Anthony has been dealing with a shoulder injury and he was one of the biggest factors in the series for the Knicks in the games they won and lost, as he scored 34 points in the Game 2 win and missed 25 shots in the Game 4 loss.
Anthony was much better over the first three wins before missing too many shots and shooting under 34 percent in both losses before dropping 21 points in 40 minutes in the Game 6 win. Anthony scored 34 points in Game 2 and 26 points in Game 3 before shooting 10-of-35 with 36 points in Game 4. Anthony hurt his shoulder on Wednesday after getting physical with Kevin Garnett and before playing against the Pacers he will get some treatment on it. The series was filled with physical play and over the last three games Anthony has been scoring over 25 points per contest.
The Pacers played against the Hawks in the first round and won in six games as well and now faces the Knicks in an old school matchup. The two teams have played tough in four games this regular season, splitting the matchups with two each. The Pacers play tough defense against New York and kept them to under 38 percent shooting and gave the Knicks one of their worst losses in a while with a 125-91 win back in February.
The Knicks have a solid bench that has been playing well, while the Pacers are one of the deepest teams in the league with David West, Paul George and Roy Hibbert and others. Anthony needs to improve his three points shooting and depending on how his shoulder feels on Monday he could be back to normal. The Pacers will try to neutralize Anthony and the Knicks will be looking to take an early series lead with a win at MSG in Game 1. The Knicks went 31-10 at home during the season and the Pacers were just 19-21 on the road and New York will want to set started in similar fashion as they did against the Celtics in round one.
Prediction: Knicks win Game 1, Spurs win Game 1 against the Thunder.
