The Indiana Pacers — or whoever runs their social media — kept receipts.
Indiana took full advantage of a beaten-up New York Knicks team on Sunday in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semifinals. The Pacers controlled the game from the outset, quieting the Madison Square Garden down quickly. And while the Knicks made some runs to get back into the game, Indiana managed to keep New York at arm’s reach throughout Game 7 to close the series out with a 130-109 win.
With the win, the Pacers moved on to the Eastern Conference Finals for a showdown against the Boston Celtics. This was not something that ESPN’s experts thought would happen.
Prior to the beginning of the series, ESPN ran a predictions article where all 16 people asked — Kendra Andrews, Jerry Bembry, Tim Bontemps, Israel Gutierrez, Chris Herring, Tim Legler, Zach Lowe, Tim MacMahon, Bobby Marks, Dave McMenamin, Kevin Pelton, Jorge Sedano, Ramona Shelburne, André Snellings, Marc J. Spears and Ohm Youngmisuk — predicted a New York victory.
Following Game 7, Indiana’s X (formerly Twitter) account gleefully called out the incorrect pundits. The account shared a screengrab of those predictions with the caption, “It was always Pacers in 7.”
it was always Pacers in 7. pic.twitter.com/Hzp88oNi9D
— Indiana Pacers (@Pacers) May 19, 2024
Indiana’s rivalry with ESPN (and ESPN on ABC) will continue for the rest of the season, as ESPN/ABC will cover both the Eastern Conference Finals and NBA Finals.
[Indiana Pacers on X, ESPN.com]
