The Indiana Pacers had to be watching closely — because the winner of Game 6 between the Knicks and Celtics on Friday night at Madison Square Garden would reveal everything about the team standing between Indiana and its second-ever NBA Finals appearance.
On one side: the depleted reigning champions. No Jayson Tatum, whose ruptured Achilles ended his postseason in Game 4. A limited version of Kristaps Porzingis, still battling illness, unable to anchor Boston’s front line for extended stretches.
On the other: the Knicks. A team that had just been smacked by 25 in Boston two nights earlier — by a Celtics team already missing its superstar. A team that had gone winless (0-10) against the top three seeds across both conferences. A team that held a 3-2 series lead with its first chance to close out a playoff series at home in 25 years.
So what did the Pacers see?
A statement. A rout. A changing of the guard the Celtics had no choice but to acknowledge.
“Losing to the Knicks feels like death,” said Jaylen Brown. “But I was always taught there’s life after death. So we’ll get ready for whatever’s next.”
This is life after death — for the Knicks.
Two straight years of second-round heartbreak. A regular season full of wins over bottom-feeders but not a single one against the NBA’s top-tier teams. A no-show Game 5 that called their contender status into question.
The Knicks bent. A lot. But they never broke. And every time they were counted out, they came back sharper. Every collapse sparked a reset. Every loss made them hungrier.
On Friday, the Knicks weren’t just trying to win. They arrived reborn — with the poise of a contender, the intensity of a team with unfinished business, and the clarity of a group that now knows exactly who they are.
They didn’t just beat the Celtics. They buried them.
And in doing so, the Knicks re-emerged — not as a feel-good story, but as a legitimate threat to win it all.
* * *
Eight hours before Game 5 tipoff at TD Garden, Jalen Brunson sat at the podium, reflective. The Knicks had gotten by Detroit in six. They had rallied from double-digit deficits in three games — two of them 20-point holes — to take a 3-1 lead over Boston.
But something still wasn’t right. The potential hadn’t been tapped. The pieces hadn’t quite clicked. What was missing?
“Playing for a full 48 minutes,” Brunson said. “You never know when your turning point is. So we’ll see.”
Game 5 wasn’t it. The Knicks were flat. Lifeless. Undisciplined. They trailed by as many as 31 and left Boston embarrassed.
“The whole day of Game 5, it just wasn’t us,” Brunson later admitted. “And we knew that. We reflected on it. And we came back and said, ‘We need to be ready. We need to be better.’”
Game 6 was a different story. For a day, these Knicks looked unrecognizable.
They imposed their will from the opening tip and never let go. They were the team with urgency, intensity, pride. Boston, even with its title pedigree, looked shell-shocked, out of its league in a way few thought possible given the drastic swings in the series.
“It was time,” said Miles McBride. “It was time for us to play with the lead and play tough with the lead, and be the more physical team and outlast them.”
Few, that is, except those inside the Knicks locker room.
“If you want to go deep in the playoffs, you’ve got to believe you’ll never lose,” added Karl-Anthony Towns. “We showed that this series. I think that was really special.”
* * *
And outside Madison Square Garden? Chaos. Thousands of fans flooded the streets after the Knicks’ 119-81 win. Many hadn’t seen this deep of a playoff run in their lifetime. Firetrucks fired off the horns. Fans chanting and cheering in unison. The kind of euphoria reserved for a city that’s waited decades for something real.
“I think Josh [Hart] showed me a video of someone climbing a light post,” said Mikal Bridges. “I’m new here, but I get it. New York loves the Knicks. And now I’m a part of that.”
Yet inside the locker room? Calm. Focused. Celebratory — but not satisfied.
“I always like to live by the 24-hour rule,” said McBride. “Enjoy it for the night and tomorrow, heal up and get ready for [the next round].”
The Knicks had finally broken through after consecutive second-round exits. But they didn’t see this as a finish line. Just another step forward.
“I think the way you have to look at it is whatever your ceiling is, that’s what you’re striving for. You’re trying to go past whatever the expectations are for you,” said head coach Tom Thibodeau. “If everyone commits to that, the challenge is to bring the best out of everybody. The goal is always to win a championship. We’ve got eight wins. We need 16. And each one gets harder and harder. So you’ve got to keep fighting, and you’ve got to understand how important that is.”
This group, however, knows it hasn’t done anything yet. It’s why there were no antics or celebrations on the court after the Knicks defeated the Celtics in Game 6 on Friday. There are bigger fish to try.
“There’s more to do. We’re not done. That’s what it is,” said Bridges. “We came out there tonight to play hard and handle business, but our season’s not over. We’ve got so much more to go and we play on Wednesday. So get ready to prepare for them. Whole different team and a whole new series.”
The Pacers must realize the same: the Knicks are big fish in a big market, not guppies in small pond. What did Indiana see play out on the Garden floor late Friday night?
Not just a Knicks team that built a 41-point lead — their largest in any playoff game tracked by play-by-play data since 1997. Not just the first convincing 48-minute effort from a team loaded with talent.
They saw championship basketball. They saw a team that finally found itself at the right time.
“It’s just one step,” said McBride. “We’re not satisfied at all. We want to do the same thing next series — get four more.”
Because when these Knicks play like this — urgent, connected, relentless — there’s no opponent too skilled or seasoned to bring them back down to earth. Thibodeau’s goal was always to have his team peaking when it mattered most.
Now, the championship-caliber version has arrived. The Eastern Conference Finals await — and so does a rematch with the Pacers, the very team that ended New York’s run last postseason.
This time, the Knicks are healthy. This time, they’re built for it. And this time, they’re ready to finish the job — to seize the crown few believed was ever within reach this season.
“We’re not the media,” said Towns. “As long as we believe in each other, we can do something special. And as long as the belief in that locker room is that, we don’t care what anyone outside that locker room says.”
The Knicks finally look like contenders — like a team that can absorb a haymaker and answer with one even heavier. On Friday, they didn’t just win. They graduated. From pretender to contender. The Knicks have cast aside the doubt.
They look like a team that belongs. A team that’s arrived. A team that’s now four wins from the NBA Finals.
“[Getting to the conference finals is] awesome,” said OG Anunoby. “But we want to keep going. We’re not content. We want to keep playing.”
