New York Knicks’ Best Season in 25 Years Comes to End

The elimination of the New York Knicks by the Indiana Pacers on Saturday, May 31 in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals, 125-108, marks the end of the best season for the Knicks since 2000.

But now the loss in the Pacers series has renewed a debate over how to feel about a season of real progress, missed chances and rising expectations, according to Lee Escobedo, a contributor at the Guardian.  

The Knicks played from behind in nearly every playoff game except Game 5 of the Pacers series, Escobedo notes. Critics use this as justification to call for Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau’s dismissal.

But 17 turnovers in Games 4 and 6 of the Pacers series—not a product of coaching—were decisive, Escobedo says. The team’s low 19.5 assists per game in the series weren’t on Thibodeau either.

Thibodeau ran a wide array of actions, including horn sets, pin-downs, dribble hand-offs and high pick-and-rolls. But Indiana smothered the Knicks’ secondary options. Forcing Knicks point guard Jalen Brunson and center Karl-Anthony Towns into iso-heavy, low-efficiency looks.

Brunson recorded just five assists to Towns across the entire Eastern Conference Finals series, Escobedo says. That lack of connection played right into Indiana head coach Rick Carlisle’s hands. Carlisle’s game plan—including blitzing on switches and walling off Knicks shooting guard Josh Hart and small forward Mikal Bridges in the lane—was clinical.

Yes, Carlisle, who coached the Dallas Mavericks to an NBA championship in 2011, outcoached Thibodeau. But there’s no shame in that.

Thibodeau isn’t a fraud or a genius, Escobedo says. He gave Knicks fans what they asked for. Including deeper rotations, experimental lineups and extended minutes for the Towns-Mitchell Robinson twin tower pairing.

But it still wasn’t enough. The Pacers, who also made the Eastern Conference Finals in 2024 before getting swept by the Boston Celtics, were simply better.

This wasn’t a collapse for the Knicks, Escobedo says. It was a ceiling. The Knicks are no longer a punchline. They’re a real team with real stakes and real expectations. Every game in the Pacers series was winnable.

New York wasn’t embarrassed. But they were outplayed.