How many games do you have Indiana winning?
I don't think they'll win the series but I think 2 or 3 wins for the Pacers is more likely than 0 or 1. Probably 4-2 Boston if I was forced to bet.
If they had home court I might give them a coin flip chance. They've been very tough at home and played well against Boston in regular season (Hali was injured the one game Boston killed them). Tyrese seems to finally be getting healthy, he was inconsistent against New York but had games where he looked "back to normal". The last month of the regular season and against Milwaukee he really didn't look like he had previously.
There was a stretch in the regular season before the hamstring game where he was as lethal on offense as anybody other than maybe Joker and Luka. He was shooting it like Dame or Steph but also the best in the league at running tempo offense. If he's like that and McConnell as the perfect second guard to push pace, their offense creates real problems. Turner can be a matchup nightmare when he's on, a guy who shoots high % 3s but also effortlessly throws down dunks from 8 feet away. Siakam adds some toughness and experience they really need. Their young guys including Tyrese are rapidly getting experience. Nesmith is really improving by the week, Matherin was showing tons of promise before injury.
Nesmith might have been the hidden MVP of the New York series. He left Boston where he barely played and is blossoming with Pacers, should be highly motivated. Playing with Tyrese and McConnell really helps him on offense I think. It's really only his second season of being a heavy rotation player.
