You're lying if you say that you knew the New York Knicks would march into TD Garden and come back from 20-point deficits to win Games 1 and 2. The best-case scenario was the Knicks returning to MSG with the series tied 1-1.
Fans heard for weeks that New York had no shot to make it past Boston in the second round after going 0-4 against the Celtics during the regular season. Boston finished with the second-best record in the East, behind Cleveland. Ironically, the Cavaliers are also down 0-2 in their second-round series against the Pacers.
Does anyone have a New York-Indiana Eastern Conference Finals matchup on their bingo card? If you do, be ready to buy a lottery ticket if it comes true. The odds look good after two games, but the Knicks and Pacers still need to win two games apiece to advance. Home-court advantage is on their side, but if the playoffs have taught fans anything, playing on the road might be more of an advantage.
Knicks and Pacers are doing the unthinkable in their respective series
Indiana entered its series against Cleveland with an advantage with Darius Garland out. Defensive Player of the Year Evan Mobley and De'Andre Hunter got hurt in Game 1 and missed Game 2. You may recall that the Pacers faced injury-ravaged teams in the playoffs last year (minus the Celtics), but no matter how much New York fans dislike Indiana, you can't fault the Pacers for it.
Kristaps Porzingis is dealing with a sickness that limited him to 13 minutes in Game 1. He played in Game 2, but didn't start. Porzingis still wasn't feeling his best, and his play reflected that. Still, that doesn't take away from what the Knicks accomplished in both games on the road. It's hard enough to come back from a 20-point deficit, especially against the defending champions twice in a row.
Maybe New York and Indiana are destined to meet each other again, but this time, in the ECF. The Pacers beat the Knicks in seven games in the semifinals last year, but as mentioned, that was against an injury-depleted squad.
Let's stop here before getting too ahead of ourselves. New York isn't thinking about the ECF, but about Game 3. Indiana is doing the same. It's bizarre enough to see the top two teams in the East during the regular season down 0-2, but watching them go down 0-3 is almost unthinkable. It's the playoffs, though. Anything can happen!