Knicks vs. Pacers Final Score: Indiana Reaches Eastern Conference Finals with 106-99 Win over New York

The New York Knicks were hoping that they hadn’t dug themselves too deep of a hole against the Indiana Pacers but that’s exactly what happened. Despite finishing as the second-best team in the Eastern COnference, the  New York Knicks failed to make it to the Conference Finals and are on the outside looking in for yet another season.

Indiana just brought it too hard on Saturday night and while many fans around the NBA are disappointed that the Knicks run is now done, Pacers fans are partying into the night as their team has finally gotten over a two year hump and have landed a spot against the Miami Heat in the Conference Finals.

The win is momentous in that Frank Vogel’s team has looked the part of a playoff contender the past few seasons but they’ve run into some sort of problem each time they tried to make a run. Like the Grizzlies have long been a sleeper’s favorite, the Pacers have ben building towards this win for years and they’ve finally matured before our eyes and are ready to take the next step.

Now the question is, are the Pacers ready to make the ultimate step and reach the NBA Finals. They have an enormous task ahead of them in stopping the Miami Heat, a team that has lost just once this postseason and haven’t at all looked vulnerable. Indiana has beat teams up in creative ways this season and the Heat will present a challenge almost bigger than one that would await them in the NBA Finals.

As in video games, where the “boss” comes at the end of the game, the Miami Heat represent that sort of a “boss” threat to the Pacers and only time will tell if they’re up to beating them.

As for the Knicks, yet another season has ended in bitter disappointment and unlike the Pacers’ exit from the postseason the last two seasons, it honestly doesn’t feel like things are going to get better for New York. It’s been brutally established that Carmelo Anthony isn’t capable of carrying the tea on his back and he needs help, but the Knicks aren’t in a position of wealth when it comes to who they can sign in free agency. To add to that, the team fought behind the scenes all series long and a rift may have formed between Tyson Chandler and Carmelo Anthony — and a fractured team is even worse than what the Knicks threw out there against the Pacers.

But while the Knicks are largely to blame for their own exit to the postseason, the better team won in Indiana on Saturday night and the party seems only just beginning for Pacers fans who finally have a dashing basketball team.