Knicks, Pacers, & the Need for a Villain

In Mission Impossible II, Russian doctor Vladimir Nekhorovich (played by Rade Serbedzidja) makes a statement that is incredibly true for all entities looking to be viewed in a heroic lens.

“Well, Dimitri, every search for a hero must begin with something every hero needs, a villain.”

In the context of the film, that villain was a virus called Chimera. The existence of a villain provides a hero something to conquer, a purpose to bring out their greatness. For the 2024-25 New York Knicks, their goal is abundantly clear: compete for an NBA championship. Part of their journey, like most championship-caliber teams, is vanquishing a villain.

On Friday, October 25^th , during the team’s home opener against Indiana, that villain became clear. The Indiana Pacers, the team that eliminated the Knicks last season in the second round of the playoffs in seven games, have built up an animosity with New York. There is history, connective tissue, and most importantly animosity that make vanquishing the Pacers even more important on the team's journey to winning the Larry O’Brien.

Why the Pacers?

Indiana, a team that admittedly made a surprise run to the Eastern Conference Finals last season, might seem like an odd choice of a true rival of this Knicks team. It is easier to assume that it should be Boston (the defending champions) or Miami (a team run by former Knicks head coach Pat Riley). The Knicks have modeled their current team to play a more spacing-centric style with the addition of Karl-Anthony Towns and Mikal Bridges which can be viewed as a nod to Boston. And the specter of Pat Riley will always loom large for Knicks fans of a certain age.

But those two teams lack the personal intrigue that the Pacers provide. There is a cultural gap that belies Indiana versus New York that quite frankly does not exist with Boston and Miami. Boston, a fellow northeast sports market obsessive about its teams, feels more like two bickering cousins than a true rivalry, especially in the modern era. Miami has often been mocked by Knicks fans as being disengaged and much of the animosity is rooted in the aura of Pat Riley.

With Indiana, however, there is a small-town versus big-city element at play. The notion of the plucky upstart battling against the big bad wolf from the big city. Both teams have employed slightly different methods of team building. The two teams have different ideas of what basketball is supposed to look like, and those differences extend past the front offices and into the fan bases themselves. Players have crossed paths between both franchises and added to the general animosity between both teams. And most importantly, there is a budding rivalry between both star point guards that engendered feelings of resentment between fan bases with their difference in styles and the intersection of their perception in larger basketball conversations.

Brunson vs Haliburton

Jalen Brunson is the most beloved Knick since Patrick Ewing. His approval rating is even higher than that of Carmelo Anthony, who was beloved by many but had a very vocal contingent of skeptics in New York. Tyrese Haliburton, the Pacers All-Star point guard, is the most beloved Pacer since Reggie Miller, surpassing the likes of Jermaine O’Neal, Danny Granger, and Paul George.

Their styles reflect the cities they play in. Brunson is an undersized point guard who plays with tenacity and scoring ability very indicative of New York playground basketball culture. Haliburton, on the other hand, is a pass-first point guard who often looks to pass before shoot. His “pure point guard” style is a perfect fit in Indiana, a place that fashions itself as the home of pure basketball.

Brunson, the son of Knicks coach Rick Brunson, grew up in big cities like New York and Chicago. Haliburton hails from the small town of Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Brunson went to college powerhouse Villanova and won championships while Haliburton went to Iowa State where his team went 35-30 and did not win an NCAA Tournament game. In the NBA, the two players have played in different markets as well. Dallas drafted Brunson where he elevated his status as Luka Doncic’s backup before signing with New York. Haliburton was drafted by Sacramento only to be traded to Indiana, swapping one small market situation for another.

What makes their dynamic so fascinating is that both players started to elevate themselves at the same time. Haliburton was first an All-Star in 2022-23 when he averaged 20.7 points and 10.4 assists. That same year, Brunson received MVP votes in a breakout season, averaging 24 points and 6 assists per game on 41% shooting from three. This elevation continued last season as Brunson finished top-five in MVP voting and was named to the All-NBA second team while Haliburton made the third team. In the debate about the best point guards in the NBA, both Brunson and Haliburton come up in conversation.

This personal duel has been elevated by the fact that Haliburton was passed up in the NBA Draft by the Knicks, creating a built-in resentment for the franchise. The seven-game series in last year's playoffs added to the dynamic, and that all came to a head when both Brunson and Haliburton made an appearance during a WWE event that felt more than a little charged.

The animosity was ramped up even further this summer, as it was Haliburton and not Brunson who was selected to join the US Men’s Olympic Basketball team. All of this animosity bubbled over for the Knicks guard during the home opener, as he played with an extra chip on his shoulder, eager to prove that if the teams were to meet again this postseason, he would be ready for the challenge. In their first matchup this season, the victor was clearly Brunson, as Haliburton went scoreless in the blowout loss at Madison Square Garden. But it is not only the stars that form the connection between these two teams, but it is also the players that surround them.

Connective Tissue

There was a time when Obi Toppin was supposed to be the future of the New York Knicks. He was drafted with the 8^th overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft. It seemed for a while that he would be the team’s power forward of the future. As we know now, that never happened. The Knicks proceeded with Julius Randle while Toppin played a smaller but still important role as a bench player. Before the start of last season, he was traded to the Pacers, where he went on to play in all 82 games and started in 28.

For Indiana, Toppin has been an ideal fit. He is a super bouncy lob threat for Haliburton and has rounded himself into a reliable corner three-point shooter. But there was still a sting in leaving New York for Toppin. He said all the right things, but he is a native New Yorker and grew up a Knicks fan. His happiness to be playing in orange and blue was palpable. And when he was traded, that all went away. Whenever he plays against the Knicks now, it seems like there is an added motivation for him to have some spectacular finishes in transition to show his older team what they are missing.

Adding to the Toppin complication is the fact that his brother Jacob is on the Knicks roster. Jacob Toppin does not get a lot of playing time but in a certain respect, that connection adds to the intrigue when these two teams meet.

One of the Knicks’ newer additions last season was OG Anunoby, who was acquired from the Toronto Raptors. Anunoby, a well-respected defensive-minded wing in the NBA, went to college at Indiana University. Many Pacers fans anticipated the team making a deal for him at the trade deadline last year because of this connection. Instead, the team acquired Pascal Siakam after Anunoby went to New York. Yet again, there is connective tissue between the fan bases over a player, further adding to the desperate desire to beat the other team.

The connective tissue, however, still goes back to Tyrese Haliburton. Even before meeting in the playoffs last season, the guard has had the Knicks on his radar. On a podcast appearance with Paul George, he mentioned that he has tweets bookmarked from Knicks fans urging the team not to draft him. This has morphed into a fixation on trash-talking the Knicks and their fans when the Pacers visit Madison Square Garden. This desire to beat the Knicks from their star makes this rivalry feel renewed and real.

A Tale of Two Cities

A great dichotomy between the Knicks and Pacers in the 1990s that helped to make the rivalry so great was the gap in the values of both locales. Indiana, historically, is very politically conservative and rooted in family values. New York City, on the other hand, is politically progressive and often representative of individualism and big business. Both places love basketball but in diverse ways. In New York City, the game is played on blacktops, while in Indiana, there is a huge emphasis on the grassroots game.

Basketball in Indiana stresses a team concept, making the right play. Basketball in New York is focused on toughness and an individual making great plays. Both are viable ways to play, but two vastly different ways to solve a problem. It is these differences that make the dynamic between the Knicks and Pacers so unique.

It is also why for the Knicks, this renewed rivalry with the Pacers and the way they lost in the playoffs last season could be the fuel to help them elevate to the next level. In the Pacers they have a team on the rise that they are motivated to beat, providing the spark to translate their great collection of talent into meaningful wins.

The Knicks need the animosity that a hatred of the Indiana Pacers can bring. Much like Ewing and Carmelo, this generation of Knicks have their foe from the Midwest. The only hope now is that they can use it to fuel what the previous generations never could: a championship run that ends with a parade in Manhattan.