Unexpectedly advanced 4-1, and a surprise counterattack 4-1! The dark horse is getting closer and closer to the championship, and the East Final is not very suspense

This season's playoffs reached the division finals, and only the Thunder, the favorite to win the championship. As people expected, the rest were all dark horses above the bottom. The Timberwolves swept the Lakers in the first round; the gentleman swept the Warriors after Curry was injured in the second round. There is 5 days off before the Western Conference Finals, and the whole team is not under much pressure. The Eastern Conference is even more overwhelming. The Cavaliers and Celtics, both teams with 60 wins in the regular season, were eliminated, and both team bosses, Mitchell and Tatum, both suffered injuries, and Tatum even had a ruptured Achilles tendon and rested for at least 10-12 months. In fact, the regular season and the playoffs are completely different. You can use weak teams to win games in the regular season, and any shortcomings in the playoffs can be infinitely magnified by your opponent.

The Knicks played against the Celtics in the series. In the first two home games of the Celtics, the Knicks completed a 20-point reversal in a row. The Celtics underestimated the enemy and were obsessed with the magic ball three-point shooting system. After falling into a passive position, Tatum was seriously injured and became the last straw to crush the defending champion. The team demolition this summer was a foregone conclusion. Because the team was not demolished, no one could bear the total expenditure of $500 million next season. The Pacers team is easily overlooked and unexpectedly scored into the Eastern Conference Finals last year, but was easily swept by Celtics 4-0 in the Eastern Conference Finals. In the first half of this season, he fell outside the eighth place in the Eastern Conference, but his performance in the second half was comparable to that of the Clippers, rushing into the top four! The first round and the Bucks series are the closest chances of the two teams in the first round of the NBA's eight-group series, both of which are 50%.

But the Pacers unexpectedly eliminated the Bucks 4-1 and advanced, especially in the G5 match point match. When the Pacers were 20 points behind the Bucks, Halliburton led the team to explode and made a layup at the last moment! The Pacers had the lowest probability of advancing among the eight teams in the east and west (less than 20%), but they won two consecutive home games at the Cavaliers, especially in the G2 game, Halliburton was 20 points behind, and they made a foul at the last moment and made one of two free throws + they grabbed the rebound by themselves, taking a three-pointer to the final goal! After that, the Cavaliers stormed thousands of miles away, while the Pacers completed an upset counterattack and advanced to the Eastern Conference Final 4-1 again! The outside world is still not optimistic about them. In the Knicks series, US media predicts that the probability of the Knicks winning the Eastern Conference championship is 60%, while the Pacers are only 40%.

The walker is underestimated! How strong are they? In the first two rounds of this season, the Pacers are the sixth team in NBA history to maintain a shooting percentage of 50% + 40% in the first 10 games of the playoffs! 69% of the Pacers' scores come from assists, the first team in NBA history to have different players leading the scoring list in each game in at least five games! The Pacers averaged 117.7 points per game in the league this year, with 29.7 assists, first in the league, first in the two shooting percentages, and still the league's first in the defense and rebounds! By the playoffs, five players averaged more than 14.6 points per game, eight players averaged more than 8.5 points. Halliburton averaged 17.5 points and 9.3 assists per game, but when he was on the field in the playoffs, the Pacers beat their opponents by 10.4 points in 100 rounds!

Their opponent is a championship-level team like the Bucks Cavaliers! The famous coach Carlisle has done two very well. The first is to maximize the energy of all players. It can be seen from the average score. Sika + Halliburton + Turner are all fulcrums, and everyone can attack. In addition, in the playoffs, the Pacers did not have players who averaged more than 34 minutes per game, and their physical fitness was the most abundant among the four teams! Thanks to the 9-man rotation + the strongest offensive firepower in the league + the top frame protection ability of Sika and Turner, the Pacers have almost no shortcomings, because Halliburton can always stand up at critical moments! Halliburton has only played for 5 years, but has hit the winning goal three times in the last two seconds of the playoffs, second only to James' 6 historical records, the second in history! In comparison, the Pacers' opponent Knicks is the most tiring team, no doubt about it. The Big Four + Hart in the regular season are the big guys on the Thibodeau tactical board, especially Bridges and Hart, who are the top two in the league in total playing time. By the playoffs, except for Brunson + Anunoby + Bridges, they all reached the 40-minute level, Towns averaged 36 minutes per game, and Hart averaged 37 minutes per game, with high substitute efficiency, but they were not reused. They did not have any injuries in the first two rounds, but as long as they were injured, it would be irreversible. The Knicks were too tired to start! The data is not lying. This season's playoffs, Bridges' On-Off value is -23.3, Anunobi is -21.5, and Towns is -5.0. Their performance is not that good.

No one is optimistic about the Pacers, but the Pacers are getting closer and closer to the championship. They were vulnerable in the East last season because they really had no defense. However, their defense has improved significantly this season, and their franchise protection and restriction of opponents' shooting percentage at the basket have reached the top of the league. Their strong lineup depth and the attributes of Halliburton standing up at a critical moment, the Pacers are not just this season, but also a favorite team to win the championship in the next few years. As for the Eastern Conference Final, the suspense is not very big.