Pacers Bust Bucks, Await Knicks-76ers Winner

If the New York Knicks get by the Philadelphia 76ers, another familar foe awaits in round two.

Behind a strong relief performance from former Knick Obi Toppin (21 points, 8-of-15, 8 rebounds), the sixth-seeded Indiana Pacers completed their upset of the third-ranked Milwaukee Bucks with a 120-98 victory in Game 6 of their Eastern Conference Quarterfinal series in Indianapolis. With the 4-2 series win, its first since 2014, the Pacers now await the winner of the Knicks-76ers series. Game 6 of that set is underway at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.

Led by Tyrese Haliburton and in-season acquisition Pascal Siakam, the Pacers earned their first winning season in five years. Indiana previously finished in the runner-up spot at the innaugural NBA In-Season Tournament last winter.

There will be no shortage of headlines if the Knicks face Indiana in the conference semifinals: Toppin, the Knicks’ top pick in the 2020 draft, was traded to the Pacers in exchange for meager draft compensation over the summer and settled into a reliable role off the bench. Indiana won the season series against the Knicks by a 2-1 margin, though one of the wins came when New York was severely shorthanded after trading for Siakam’s former Toronto teammates OG Anunoby and Precious Achiuwa.

A second-round get-together would also be the eighth playoff meeting between the Knicks and Pacers, a series that carries a checkered role in Knicks history: each of the Knicks’ last two trips to the NBA Finals (1994, 1999) have featured a victory over the Pacers, though Indiana has won four of the first seven. The last was staged in 2013, when the Pacers took down a Knicks group situated in the second seed … the same spot the current group is stationed.

If the Knicks win, the series will open at Madison Square Garden, while Indiana will hold homecourt advantage at Gainbridge Fieldhouse if the seventh-seeded 76ers pull off the upset from 3-1 down. A full schedule for the series will be released on a later date.

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