STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
There have been a few playoffs with comebacks in the NBA. And now the New York Knicks are one step closer to a huge comeback - possibly winning the Eastern Conference finals against the Indiana Pacers after going down three games to one. NPR sports correspondent Becky Sullivan is here. Becky, good morning.
BECKY SULLIVAN, BYLINE: Good morning, Steve.
INSKEEP: Wow, the Pacers seemed like they were cruising, on their way - didn't happen last night.
SULLIVAN: (Laughter) You know, desperation does funny things in sports. You never know what's going to happen. But I think the Knicks had come into this series with a lot of pressure on them. They have one of the biggest, most intense, most star-studded fan bases in the NBA.
INSKEEP: Yep.
SULLIVAN: But the team hasn't reached the NBA Finals since the 1990s. And so last night, the series came home to Madison Square Garden. As you say, they were down three games to one, so this game was must-win. This is the best of seven series, and so finally, they came out and showed it. They won 111-94. That's a 17-point win, which actually is by far the biggest margin of victory for either team in this series. All the other games had been quite close. So this is a shot in the arm for an ailing Knicks squad who still have to win two more times if they are going to pull this thing off.
INSKEEP: Thanks for the reminder about them being ailing. It's still a little surprising to me. I mean, I follow the Pacers a little bit. They're pretty good, but they have just been amazing up to now. How have they done...
SULLIVAN: Yeah.
INSKEEP: ...So well?
SULLIVAN: Yeah, they're really built to be a playoff team. They play this, like, style of basketball that I think is designed to wear opponents out, and it really works when you extend that over a course of a series. So they're aggressive on defense. They have this quick sort of up-tempo pace on offense. And then they play deeper into their rotation than a lot of other teams do, and so they sort of have fresher guys with more energy. That adds up over a seven-game series. And in the playoffs, they have just gotten some really stellar performances from their main guys. Two games ago, their point guard, Tyrese Haliburton, who is really coming out as a star, had one of the best games of his whole career - this 32-point triple-double with no turnovers. On the other hand, he kind of disappeared a little bit last night - only had eight points. So they'll need him to come back if they're going to wrap this thing up.
INSKEEP: Wow, right there is an explanation of how the Knicks would have won so easily. But how can they win two more?
SULLIVAN: Yeah, I mean, well, if they can keep winning like they did last night, they might be able to do it. The first three games of the series, like I said, they were really close. They really could have gone either way. We could be talking about a completely different series right now. They have these two megastars who are threats to score 30 points or more any night. Those are Karl-Anthony Towns and Jalen Brunson.
On the other hand, you know, what we're talking about, this is a long shot. Only a handful of teams in NBA playoff history have ever come back from being down three games to one. And the series, of course, now goes back to Indianapolis tomorrow night. It's been a wild environment in that arena there. Those fans obviously are desperate for a Pacers championship, which has never happened since they came to the NBA back in the 1970s. So it's going to be tough for the Knicks.
INSKEEP: Yeah, yeah. And regardless of who wins, of course, they go on to the finals. And sometimes in the NBA, there is one team that is just overwhelmingly dominant or seems to be, and this year, that is not the Pacers or the Knicks. It's the Oklahoma City Thunder.
SULLIVAN: Yeah, you're right. Yeah, they look just tremendous. I mean, they had one of the best regular seasons of all time. They destroyed the NBA record for the average scoring differential, meaning just sort of on average over the course of all their 80-plus games, they scored on average 13 more points than their opponents. That's an NBA record. Then they followed it up with just a great postseason run. They steamrolled the Minnesota Timberwolves four games to one in the Western Conference finals. They have the MVP in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. They are going to be the favorites, no matter what happens between the Knicks and the Pacers.
INSKEEP: NPR's MVP, Becky Sullivan, thanks so much.
SULLIVAN: You're welcome.
(SOUNDBITE OF IKEBE SHAKEDOWN'S "THE OFFERING") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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