NBA Playoffs 2025 - Conference Finals Matchups!
(C9) The New York Knicks are among the last four teams remaining for the first time in 25 years
I. The Knicks Are Deep in the Playoffs!!!
Now that my Knicks are in the Eastern Conference Finals (for the first time in 25 years) I no longer can be a logical thinking basketball fan, but I am crossing the rubicon to borderline basketball fanatic.
Why do you ask?! Because this 2025 Postseason is the first time since the year 2000 that the Knicks have made the Eastern Conference Finals.
If the Knicks, make the Finals it will be their first time making the Finals since the 1999 lockout season. Before that the Knicks made the Finals in 1994.
The 2025 Eastern Conference Finals Match-up is against none other than the Indiana Pacers. A team the Knicks beat in the Eastern Conference Finals in 1994, and in 1999. They did lose to the Pacers in 2000 in the Eastern Conference Finals. Hopefully the Knicks will win their matchup against the Pacers this year. As they did lose to the Pacers in Round 2 last year too!
Before I go deeper into the significance of the Knicks advancing to the Eastern Conference Finals, let me give a brief table of contents of what to expect in this post.
I. The Knicks deep playoff run continues!
II. What I got right and what I got wrong (so far) in these playoffs
III. My predictions for the two upcoming Conference Finals Series
IV. Interesting facts about this year’s playoffs
V. NBA players I’d want to play ball with!
VI. All things Knicks
II. What I Got Right & What I Got Wrong (in the 2025 Playoffs, so far)
For the Play-in Games I picked the correct winner 3 out of 6 times, and the correct loser 4 out of 6 times. For the Round 1 Series, I predicted 5 out of 8 series correctly.
For the Semi-Finals Games, I picked 2 out of 4 series correctly.
NY v. Boston: Despite originally picking the Celtics, I’m overjoyed to be wrong about the Knicks! Even as my heart breaks for Tatum.
Indiana v. Cleveland: As for me picking the Cavs, after Game One I could tell I underestimated the Pacers. And then after Game 2, I realized the Cavs were now going to have to win 5 out of 7 games as they completely gave Game 2 away (much in the same way that the Knicks choked away a playoff game against the Pacers in 1995).
I was 0-2 in my Eastern Conference predictions, and 2-2 in my Western Conference predictions.
Wolves v. Warriors: Once Curry went down, my prediction of Minnesota winning no longer seemed quite as bold, as it became quite a lop-sided matchup by then. It was a bit of a disappointment. As much as I wrote about the Warriors imminent demise, I did not want to see it done because of an injury to their super-star.
As for OKC v. Denver: I correctly picked the Thunder! And all I can say is, at least there is one 60+ win team this year that affirmed that the regular season and home court still matters! This was a truly great showdown. Despite the Game 7 beatdown the Thunder laid on the Nuggets.
III. My Predictions for the two upcoming Conference Finals Series:
Eastern Conference Finals
New York v. Indiana: I am not sleeping on these Pacers. I already read a compelling story on them titled “The Pacers are far better than their record”. I also believe that the Knicks teams of the 1990s were better than this Knicks team. Yet sometimes it’s not always about who is the more talented team, it’s really about whether it’s your turn or not!
The Knicks are also the only big market team left in these playoffs. Do you really think NBA Commissioner Adam Silver wants to see an Indiana v OKC Finals???
ECF - Knicks beat the Pacers in 7
Western Conference Finals
OKC v. Minnesota: What I’m looking forward to most in this series is the SGA v Ant Man matchup. One thing I’m not going to do is, I’m not going to speculate on these Finals until we know who the winners of each respective conferences are. But I am remaining consistent on who I think will win out in the West.
Of course, Game 1 already went OKC’s way, as turnovers really did the Wolves in. The quick turnaround time for OKC should have gone in Minnesota’s favor, but they couldn’t capitalize on the extra rest. Either way, I’m sticking with my initial take, as I still think the Wolves will at least make this a competitive series.
WCF - OKC beats Minnesota in 6
As for the Thunder winning the title…I did pick OKC to win it all at the start of these playoffs. But, with the Knicks now in the mix, I might have to change my mind. Much in the same way I changed my mind (2x) about who the 12 most important players are, as I updated it with my recently published Top 18 Most Important Players, list.
How do we quantify Importance/Impact?
MY TOP 18 MOST IMPORTANT PLAYERS IN THE LEAGUE (Separated by Tier).
IV. Six interesting facts about this year’s playoffs
There will be a new NBA Champion for the 7th year in a row. From 2019 to 2025, 7 different teams will have held up the Larry O’Brien Trophy. This will be the *First time ever, in the history of the NBA!
*The NBA has now reached a level of parity that makes the NFL blush.
Of the four remaining teams, Knicks, Pacers, Thunder, T-Wolves; Only the Knicks have won an NBA championship (in 1970 and again in 1973). The Pacers won the ABA Championship a few times, but that was a different league that eventually merged with the NBA.
Of the final four teams, the *star player on each team is a guard. For a game that (typically) favors the taller guys on the court, I’m not sure this has ever happened before.
*The four stars of the Conference Finals; Brunson-Knicks; Haliburton-Pacers; Edwards-Wolves; SGA-OKC
Since the NBA created its current playoff format in 1984, to have a 1 v 6 face-off in the Conference Finals, and a 3 v 4 face-off in the Conference Finals is pretty uncommon.
That the 3-4 and the 1-6 matchup is happening in the same postseason is statistically even more improbable than Fact #4.
In the Western Conference, the difference between the 2 seed and the 8 seed was only *four games.
*52 wins in the Western Conference earned you a #2 Seed. 50 wins earned you anywhere from a 3-5 seed. 49 wins earned you a 6 seed. Meanwhile 48 wins earned you at least one home “play-in” game.
V. NBA pros I’d like to play ball with
When making this list, I was thinking first and foremost, who I would perform the best with and would have fun too!
1) Steph Curry (guard) Warriors → I’d love to play with him and see him weave around to get open, shooting 3s.
2) Josh Hart (guard/forward) Knicks → I love how he plays like a maniac; all hustle all the time!
3) OG Anunoby (guard/forward) Knicks → This is one of the finest defenders in the league and he also has a polished offensive game to go with it.
4- Aaron Gordon (power forward) Nuggets → Pure energy and pure fun. A rim-runner, rebounder, 3-point shooter! He’s got the whole bag now.
5- Nikola Jokic (center) Nuggets → Who wouldn’t want to play with the Joker? And with him and Steph on the court together, it would be amazing.
As for my 6th & 7th men!
6- Alex Caruso (guard) Thunder → Amazing, do it all smaller guard. He can play either the point or the two-guard on offense, and on defense Caruso is as gritty as they come. He legitimately defended Jokic in the Game 7 clinching victory for OKC.
7- Dereck Lively II/Daniel Gafford (center/forward) Mavs —>Pick your poison! Both are tremendous rim-runners, where I can be throwing all sorts of lob passes at the rim for them to catch. And they both have presence on defense, securing a lot of rebounds and disrupting/blocking opponents’ shots.
These seven/eight players would be a nightmare matchup for any team in a playoff series. If you want to fill out the bench with two more guys, pick any two from the Pacers or Thunder’s deep rotation.
For real though, if you put Jokic and Steph and a rim-runner like Gordon or Gafford on the floor together and then add a strong wing player like Anunoby or Hart, you literally could pick some random dude off the street that is at least decent in a pickup game, and he might look good playing with that group!
VI. All things Knicks!!!
Once I was half-way through doing a write-up for this section, I realized this “All things Knicks” section needs its own article. So, that’s going to drop later this week (or early next week).