Nineteen thousand, three hundred thirty-three feet.
That’s how far Mikal Bridges ran in the Knicks’ overtime loss to the Indiana Pacers in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals. Nearly four miles of hard cuts, closeouts, sprints in transition — and still, it wasn’t enough.
Because this is who the Pacers are. And it’s why the Knicks, a team that leans heavily on its starters, now face one of their greatest postseason challenges yet.
Indiana doesn’t just play fast. They weaponize pace. They fly after makes, misses, turnovers, and everything in between. They wear teams down not just with speed, but with stamina — constantly cycling in fresh legs while the opposition gasps for air.
In Game 1, five Pacers reserves logged over 2,000 feet of court coverage. The Knicks had just three: Miles McBride, Mitchell Robinson, and Cameron Payne. Bridges led all players in distance traveled.
“Like you said, it’s always something you watch on film,” Bridges said after Thursday’s film session. “And it’s different until it’s live.”
The live version hit fast.
Jalen Brunson and OG Anunoby each logged more than 15,000 feet of total distance in Game 1. Josh Hart cleared 17,000. For comparison, no player in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals — between the Timberwolves and Thunder — ran more than Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s 14,200 feet.
And while the Knicks did accumulate some extra mileage with a five-minute overtime period, the broader point is hard to ignore: the workload gap is real.
Minnesota had eight players log at least 20 minutes. Oklahoma City gave seven players 19.8 minutes or more, and three others logged at least 9.6. Indiana, meanwhile, played nine players at least 13 minutes and got seven solid minutes from second-year guard Ben Sheppard.
And as has become customary, the Knicks were on pace to play all five starters 40-plus minutes — if not for foul trouble that sidelined Karl-Anthony Towns and Jalen Brunson.
Which gives Indiana an advantage. The Pacers aren’t just playing fast — they’re rotating deep. They’re running fresh legs at tired stars.
“It’s hard for me to discredit and say the wear-down effect wasn’t there,” said Pacers All-Star Tyrese Haliburton. “That’s part of our identity: How can we wear on teams for 48 minutes? Picking up full court, our offensive pressure, getting downhill, moving, playing fast. I thought we did a good job playing our style.”
Indiana, true to its name, played with pace — seventh-fastest in the NBA during the regular season — against a Knicks team that ranked 26th in possessions per game. Style clash? Yes. But Indiana is dragging this series into the fast lane, and Game 1 proved just how exhausting that can be.
The Knicks don’t deny it. But they also don’t believe scoring is their issue — not when they dropped 135 in Game 1 and still lost.
“When you look at our fast break points on the season and the playoffs, I think people overlook that,” said head coach Tom Thibodeau. “We scored 135 points. That should be more than enough. So we’ve got to lock into what we do better defensively.”
Offense isn’t the problem. The Knicks had five games of 140 or more during the regular season — including 143 apiece against Memphis and Sacramento, two of the league’s fastest-paced teams. They can score in bunches. But this challenge is different.
The Pacers don’t stop. The games come fast. The possessions even faster. And when the Knicks so much as blink, the floodgates open.
“I think in the beginning, throughout, [their pace] got on us, but towards the end we started to figure it out, building that lead in the fourth and everything,” said Bridges. “You’ve just got to maintain it. That’s the biggest thing — you’ve got to maintain the communication and help each other. You can’t relax with them, and I think that’s what happened in the last five minutes. We got the lead and we were doing well, and once you relax that little bit, they take full advantage.”
“They’re not going to stop. Especially when they’re down. They’ll probably play even faster. So we’ve got to stay locked in the whole game.”
There’s no magic solution. Tom Thibodeau may not extend the rotation beyond his trusted eight-man lineup. What the team can do is absorb the pace, respond with poise, and win the game within the game — by surviving the tempo and executing in the half court.
“This is the challenge they present,” said team captain Jalen Brunson. “We’re gonna have to deal with it regardless. It’s what they do. You’ve got to be ready for it. It’s all about game-planning and being ready to execute.”