INDIANAPOLIS — On Sunday night, for the first time in 485 days, Josh Hart came off the bench for the New York Knicks, ceding his spot in the starting lineup to center Mitchell Robinson in a move aimed at providing a shock to the system of a lineup that’s gone stagnant over the past several months.

It wouldn’t be unheard of for the change to rankle Hart. After all, he’d just turned in the best season of his eight-year career, averaging 13.6 points on 52.5% shooting to go with 9.6 rebounds, 5.9 assists and 1.5 steals in a league-leading 37.6 minutes per game. He’d established himself as a vital two-way piece of a Knicks team that advanced to the Eastern Conference finals for the first time in 25 years, shooting 41.3% from 3-point range and playing a huge role in closing out both the Pistons in Round 1 and the favored Celtics in Round 2.

Players stamped as that consequential don’t typically get sent to the second unit … unless, of course, they volunteer to go there.

“I mean, it was never going to be a tough day for me,” Hart said after New York’s latest breathtaking comeback of these playoffs, a 106-100 victory over the Indiana Pacers in Game 3 of the 2025 Eastern Conference finals. “Because I had a hand in that decision.”

Seated at his locker after the win, which saw the Knicks erase a 20-point first-half deficit and race past the hosts with a roaring 36-20 fourth quarter, Hart explained that he’d met with Tom Thibodeau and expressed that he was comfortable with coming off the bench to make space for Robinson — a continuation of a dialogue that Hart said started against Boston.

“This was a conversation that I’ve had before,” Hart said. “I actually had a conversation … before Game 6 [against the Celtics], when I was struggling with the matchup of Luke Kornet.”

After strong performances in New York’s thrilling wins in Games 1 and 2 in Boston, Hart went just 5-for-16 from the field over the next two games, having a difficult time getting untracked while being cross-matched against the 7-foot Kornet, forever sagging off of him to pack the paint and stifle other Knicks’ scoring efforts. And while Hart scored a postseason-high 24 points in Game 5, making five of his nine 3-point attempts, the Celtics outscored New York by 24 points in his 36 minutes — a blinking-red-lights indication that the time might be ripe for a change.

Gregory Shamus via Getty Images

“I wasn’t able to really figure that out,” Hart said. “And Game 6, I had a pretty good game, but it’s something that I’ve had in the back of my mind, and I’ve always been willing to do.”

Hart had a rough Game 2, scoring six points on three shot attempts with just one assist in 28 ineffectual minutes during which he failed to make Pacers defenders Andrew Nembhard and Tyrese Haliburton pay for aggressively helping off of him to muck up New York’s half-court offense elsewhere. Robinson, on the other hand, continued to make a massive impact on the interior in Game 2, grabbing nine rebounds (four offensive) and blocking three shots in 29 minutes — during which the Knicks outscored the Pacers by six points.

“You know, down two [games to none], especially with how Mitch played last game, it was just … you know, that’s something that we had to do,” Hart said. “And obviously, that’s a group decision that really boils down to Thibs and myself.”

“Yeah, he wants to win,” said Knicks captain and longtime Hart pal Jalen Brunson. “This just shows who he is — as a person, as a player, as a teammate. He doesn’t care for anything individual. He just wants to win. It’s a true testament of a great teammate.”

Thibodeau praised Hart for his willingness to sacrifice what some other players — maybe a lot of other players — might see as the status and prestige that comes with starting, in pursuit of an edge to help the team win.

“The thing I love about Josh is the unselfishness,” Thibodeau said. “Like, you’re concerned, because you’re not only impacting him, but you’re impacting other guys in the starting lineup, so you’ve got to make sure that that’s all good. And then you’re also impacting the second unit in a different way, so then you’ve got to figure out, ‘OK, how can we put this all together where we can make it work?’”

The rotational shuffle extended far beyond swapping Robinson in for Hart:

It also included elevating little-used guards Delon Wright and Landry Shamet over the scuffling Cameron Payne, hoping that putting more size and defensive acumen on the court might help slow down a Pacers offense that had been humming. Those bets paid off handsomely: Wright made several goodhustleplays, Shamet made a corner 3 and dished a pair of assists to help the Knicks stay within hailing distance amid their first-half woes, and both contributed to a second-half defensive effort that saw New York limit the Pacers to just 42 points on 14-for-38 shooting (36.8%) in the third and fourth quarters.

Hart played a significant role in that effort, too. He helped crank up the communication and precision of New York’s switches and rotations, and came up with a number of big plays, including a pair of huge defensive rebounds in the final minute and a half to prevent Indiana from getting a second chance to cut into the Knicks’ lead:

Hart played the entire fourth quarter, finishing with 8 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists and 1 steal in 34 minutes off the bench. Robinson, for his part, finished with 6 points, 6 rebounds (3 offensive), 1 assist, 1 steal and 1 block in 29 minutes.

“[The lineup switch] really didn’t impact either guy from a minutes standpoint,” Thibodeau said. “To me, when Mitch was coming off the bench, he’s a starter coming off the bench. When Josh comes off the bench, he’s a starter coming off the bench. Their minutes are going to be the same, and both guys mix and match, both guys are comfortable with both units.”

And because Hart’s comfortable with the second unit, sliding him out of the first five was never uncomfortable in the first place.

“For me, it wasn’t a tough day,” Hart said. “It was funny, because everyone was saying something to me, or guys would text me on other teams and all that, and I’m like, ‘Bruh, I don’t care.’ I don’t care if I start. I don’t care if I play 20 minutes. If we win, we win. …

“You know, whoever won the championship five years ago, you can’t really — you have no idea who the starters are,” he continued. “You know that those guys won. And they have that camaraderie and that connection for life. It doesn’t matter how many points you score, doesn’t matter how many minutes you play, doesn’t matter if you started or not. It depends on if you win. And at the end of the day, that’s the most important thing for me.”

INDIANAPOLIS — On Sunday night, for the first time in 485 days, Josh Hart came off the bench for the New York Knicks, ceding his spot in the starting lineup to center Mitchell Robinson in a move aimed at providing a shock to the system of a lineup that’s gone stagnant over the past several months.

It wouldn’t be unheard of for the change to rankle Hart. After all, he’d just turned in the best season of his eight-year career, averaging 13.6 points on 52.5% shooting to go with 9.6 rebounds, 5.9 assists and 1.5 steals in a league-leading 37.6 minutes per game. He’d established himself as a vital two-way piece of a Knicks team that advanced to the Eastern Conference finals for the first time in 25 years, shooting 41.3% from 3-point range and playing a huge role in closing out both the Pistons in Round 1 and the favored Celtics in Round 2.

Players stamped as that consequential don’t typically get sent to the second unit … unless, of course, they volunteer to go there.

“I mean, it was never going to be a tough day for me,” Hart said after New York’s latest breathtaking comeback of these playoffs, a 106-100 victory over the Indiana Pacers in Game 3 of the 2025 Eastern Conference finals. “Because I had a hand in that decision.”

Seated at his locker after the win, which saw the Knicks erase a 20-point first-half deficit and race past the hosts with a roaring 36-20 fourth quarter, Hart explained that he’d met with Tom Thibodeau and expressed that he was comfortable with coming off the bench to make space for Robinson — a continuation of a dialogue that Hart said started against Boston.

“This was a conversation that I’ve had before,” Hart said. “I actually had a conversation … before Game 6 [against the Celtics], when I was struggling with the matchup of Luke Kornet.”

After strong performances in New York’s thrilling wins in Games 1 and 2 in Boston, Hart went just 5-for-16 from the field over the next two games, having a difficult time getting untracked while being cross-matched against the 7-foot Kornet, forever sagging off of him to pack the paint and stifle other Knicks’ scoring efforts. And while Hart scored a postseason-high 24 points in Game 5, making five of his nine 3-point attempts, the Celtics outscored New York by 24 points in his 36 minutes — a blinking-red-lights indication that the time might be ripe for a change.

Gregory Shamus via Getty Images

“I wasn’t able to really figure that out,” Hart said. “And Game 6, I had a pretty good game, but it’s something that I’ve had in the back of my mind, and I’ve always been willing to do.”

Hart had a rough Game 2, scoring six points on three shot attempts with just one assist in 28 ineffectual minutes during which he failed to make Pacers defenders Andrew Nembhard and Tyrese Haliburton pay for aggressively helping off of him to muck up New York’s half-court offense elsewhere. Robinson, on the other hand, continued to make a massive impact on the interior in Game 2, grabbing nine rebounds (four offensive) and blocking three shots in 29 minutes — during which the Knicks outscored the Pacers by six points.

“You know, down two [games to none], especially with how Mitch played last game, it was just … you know, that’s something that we had to do,” Hart said. “And obviously, that’s a group decision that really boils down to Thibs and myself.”

“Yeah, he wants to win,” said Knicks captain and longtime Hart pal Jalen Brunson. “This just shows who he is — as a person, as a player, as a teammate. He doesn’t care for anything individual. He just wants to win. It’s a true testament of a great teammate.”

Thibodeau praised Hart for his willingness to sacrifice what some other players — maybe a lot of other players — might see as the status and prestige that comes with starting, in pursuit of an edge to help the team win.

“The thing I love about Josh is the unselfishness,” Thibodeau said. “Like, you’re concerned, because you’re not only impacting him, but you’re impacting other guys in the starting lineup, so you’ve got to make sure that that’s all good. And then you’re also impacting the second unit in a different way, so then you’ve got to figure out, ‘OK, how can we put this all together where we can make it work?’”

The rotational shuffle extended far beyond swapping Robinson in for Hart:

It also included elevating little-used guards Delon Wright and Landry Shamet over the scuffling Cameron Payne, hoping that putting more size and defensive acumen on the court might help slow down a Pacers offense that had been humming. Those bets paid off handsomely: Wright made several goodhustleplays, Shamet made a corner 3 and dished a pair of assists to help the Knicks stay within hailing distance amid their first-half woes, and both contributed to a second-half defensive effort that saw New York limit the Pacers to just 42 points on 14-for-38 shooting (36.8%) in the third and fourth quarters.

Hart played a significant role in that effort, too. He helped crank up the communication and precision of New York’s switches and rotations, and came up with a number of big plays, including a pair of huge defensive rebounds in the final minute and a half to prevent Indiana from getting a second chance to cut into the Knicks’ lead:

Hart played the entire fourth quarter, finishing with 8 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists and 1 steal in 34 minutes off the bench. Robinson, for his part, finished with 6 points, 6 rebounds (3 offensive), 1 assist, 1 steal and 1 block in 29 minutes.

“[The lineup switch] really didn’t impact either guy from a minutes standpoint,” Thibodeau said. “To me, when Mitch was coming off the bench, he’s a starter coming off the bench. When Josh comes off the bench, he’s a starter coming off the bench. Their minutes are going to be the same, and both guys mix and match, both guys are comfortable with both units.”

And because Hart’s comfortable with the second unit, sliding him out of the first five was never uncomfortable in the first place.

“For me, it wasn’t a tough day,” Hart said. “It was funny, because everyone was saying something to me, or guys would text me on other teams and all that, and I’m like, ‘Bruh, I don’t care.’ I don’t care if I start. I don’t care if I play 20 minutes. If we win, we win. …

“You know, whoever won the championship five years ago, you can’t really — you have no idea who the starters are,” he continued. “You know that those guys won. And they have that camaraderie and that connection for life. It doesn’t matter how many points you score, doesn’t matter how many minutes you play, doesn’t matter if you started or not. It depends on if you win. And at the end of the day, that’s the most important thing for me.”

INDIANAPOLIS — Karl-Anthony Towns was down bad.

After spending the bulk of the fourth quarter of the New York Knicks’ Game 2 loss to the Indiana Pacers on the bench, watching his teammates try to climb out of a hole that he’d helped dig with missed shots and defensive lapses, he’d compounded the trouble in Game 3, missing 6 of 8 field-goal attempts with four fouls and four turnovers. Towns was far from the only Knick misfiring, though: Jalen Brunson and Mikal Bridges were a combined 10-for-30, emblematic of a game full of clanks and cough-ups that had at one point pushed the Pacers up by 20 and had New York down 10 heading into the fourth quarter.

Gregory Shamus via Getty Images

“The game wasn’t looking great for me,” Towns said. “For all of us.”

Fortunately for Towns, and the rest of the Knicks, they play 48 minutes at the NBA level. And that gave Towns, and the rest of the Knicks, one more chance — 12 more minutes in which to do something to avoid going down 3-0.

“Fourth quarter’s different,” he said. “Feels like a whole ’nother game.”

Man, did it ever.

In less than 12 minutes, Towns changed the Knicks’ fortunes and maybe saved their season. He was brilliant when New York needed it most, pouring in 20 of his 24 points in the final frame to spark yet another unbelievable comeback in these 2025 NBA playoffs, erasing a 20-point deficit and propelling the Knicks to a 106-100 Game 3 win that stunned the throngs of Pacers faithful that had entered the final quarter ready to bust out their brooms and exited it wondering if New York might wind up being a tough out after all.

“I mean, KAT, when he get in that zone like that, it’s gonna be tough to stop him,” Knicks wing Mikal Bridges said. “And we needed every single point that he gave us in that fourth quarter. I’m just happy he’s on our side.”

After Knicks guard Miles McBride missed a layup on the opening possession of the fourth quarter, newly minted reserve Josh Hart came soaring in to grab the offensive rebound and kicked the ball out to Towns, waiting at the top of the key. And suddenly, seven quarters of struggles — with his shot, with the Pacers’ persistent hunting on the defensive end, with the noise that attends underperformance on the big stage when you wear orange and blue — melted away.

“Just have to let the last game, and even those three quarters, go,” Towns said. “Just focus on giving yourself a chance to win the game.”

Towns stepped into the shot with confidence, without hesitation, and drilled it. Less than a minute later, he drove hard to the middle on Pacers center Myles Turner before pirouetting with a beautiful drop step to the baseline to finish off the glass. With those two baskets, he’d more than doubled his scoring total; more than that, he’d found some rhythm, some flow, a melody in the cacophony of a ravenous Gainbridge Fieldhouse. And with it?

“I just saw an opportunity,” he said. “Saw an opportunity to utilize all those hours I put into the gym.”

Towns took all that work and gave it directly to the Pacers, injecting new life into a previously moribund Knicks offense and giving a heartbeat to a team that seemed to be ready for last rites when a Tyrese Haliburton steal and slam put Indiana up by 20 with just over three minutes to go in the second quarter.

Then again, maybe we should’ve known better. Maybe, as they showed in Round 2 against Boston, going down by 20 just activates the Knicks’ superpowers.

“Yeah, I don’t know — I would love to not be down 20,” Hart said with a smile in the Knicks’ locker room. “But I guess we were down 20, and then we were up 17 [in Game 1]. So maybe if we’re in the middle of that, maybe if we’re up like 10 or something, it could be a good situation.”

Once again, for whatever reason, a massive deficit proved to be a good situation for the Knicks on Sunday. With 2 1/2 minutes to go in the third quarter, New York trailed by 15; with four minutes left in the fourth, New York led by four, thanks largely to Towns, who outscored the Pacers by himself in the first eight minutes of the fourth quarter, 20-12, ushering in a sea change on the scoreboard by punishing the Pacers all over the offensive end of the court.

“KAT, as we know, is a very gifted scorer,” Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau said. “He can score at three different levels. He’s comfortable at the 3-point line, he’s comfortable putting the ball on the floor, he’s comfortable with his back to the basket. As long as he stays aggressive, it’s a huge plus for us.”

Towns stayed aggressive throughout the fourth quarter, repeatedly taking the fight to Turner, whether operating out of the post, stepping back behind the 3-point line for quick-trigger set shots that found the bottom of the net, or driving to the cup — like he did on a hard left-hand drive and finish through contact to draw a foul that landed him in a heap on the baseline … and feeling good enough to celebrate.

“The and-one, and he started finger-pointing — I think that’s when I knew,” McBride said when asked when he started to feel like Towns was truly cooking. “Honestly, he’s a special player. He did what he had to do tonight.”

Towns boasts a rare offensive arsenal — one not seen as often over the last several months as many Knicks fans had hoped after the sterling start to his partnership with Jalen Brunson. With New York’s season on the brink on Sunday, though, it was on full display.

“He made a couple of tough shots,” Hart said. “He showed his ability to get to the rim, his ability to post up, his ability to space the floor. He’s a tough matchup for anybody in the league, and when he has it going like that, it’s great for us, because it opens up so many things. I think we even had some back-cuts that we probably didn’t connect on, but they were open. So we need that aggression from him all the time offensively.

“And when he does that,” Hart added, “it also bleeds into his defense.”

After struggling mightily to get a handle on Haliburton, Pascal Siakam and the Pacers’ high-octane offense through the first 2 1/2 games of the series, New York clamped down after intermission, holding Indiana to just 42 points on 14-for-38 shooting (36.8%) from the field and 2 of 12 (16.7%) from 3-point range, with as many turnovers as assists (eight). With Hart, McBride, OG Anunoby and little-used reserves Landry Shamet and Delon Wright all pulling maximum-effort shifts with Towns on the back line, New York held an Indiana offense that’s the most efficient attack left in the postseason to a dismal 87.5 points per 100 possessions in the second half — a level of in-the-mud that suited the Knicks much more than their hosts on Sunday.

“You have to come out with that intensity, the physicality, the ball pressure to start the game,” Hart said. “We rebounded the ball and then we got out in transition, got easy buckets, so defensively, it was huge. We communicated at a high level. We recognized mismatches. We put out fires. We rotated. It was a great defensive half for us.”

That defensive effort, combined with Towns’ avalanche and some timely shot-making from McBride, who scored nine points in 15 minutes after battling early foul trouble, helped keep the Knicks afloat into the final minutes even with Brunson having his first poor offensive outing of the series and sitting for most of the fourth quarter with foul trouble. But with the score tied at 98 and 1:21 to go, the Knicks were able to get the ball to their crunch-time captain and watch him come through yet again:

“Did you really expect anything less from JB?” Towns said. “He got that award for a reason. We knew when we got in that fourth quarter, we got late in the game, he got back in the game, I think we all felt very confident that if we could get him the ball, we’d see some buckets happen.”

Brunson’s runner put the Knicks ahead for good, as New York won the free-throw-shooting contest over the final minute to close out the win and get on the board in the best-of-seven series. After the game, Brunson attributed his late-game success despite early-game struggles to an understanding of how to ride the rollercoaster that is high-stakes postseason basketball.

“It’s an emotional game. It’s a long game,” Brunson said. “Things can happen. Things can not go your way. And you can easily crash out, or you can respond the right way.”

Things happened to the Knicks. Things were not going their way. But they didn’t crash out. They responded, emphatically, on the strength of a rare player with rare gifts seizing the opportunity to turn his weekend, and maybe this series, around.

“My teammates put me in great spots to succeed, and I just wanted to capitalize on the opportunity,” Towns said. “All of us were just doing whatever it takes to win and put ourselves in a position to get back in the game, one, and two, put ourselves in a position where, you know, at the end of the game, you could find ourselves or a chance to win. Shout out to the locker room, and all of us finding a way.”

After the Indiana Pacers’ win in Game 1, it was easy to forget the New York Knicks made the Eastern Conference finals with some epic comebacks of their own. They provided a reminder Sunday and breathed some life into their season in the process.

New York trailed by as many as 20 points in Game 3, but roared back in the second half to notch a 106-100 win and avoid a 3-0 hole. With the series now 2-1, Game 4 is scheduled for Tuesday at Indiana (8 p.m. ET, TNT).

ASSOCIATED PRESS

It took one of the best performances of Karl-Anthony Towns’ career to get there. Towns entered the fourth quarter with only four points, then reeled off 20 points in the final 12 minutes to stun Gainbridge Fieldhouse.

That was the second-most fourth-quarter playoff points for a Knicks player in the play-by-play era (since 1997).

New York needed that firepower from Towns with Jalen Brunson battling foul trouble for the entire second half.

It was the third 20-point comeback for the Knicks in these playoffs and a record sixth for the league overall this postseason. New York got their first two in Games 1 and 2 of the last round against the Boston Celtics.

If there is reason for comfort for the Pacers, it’s that they have twice been in this position before. In this postseason, they are 6-0 in Games 1 and 2, 0-3 in Game 3s and 4-0 in Games 4 and 5. They’ll try to continue that trend Tuesday.

Knicks revamp struggling starting lineup before Game 3

The Knicks had an obvious lever to pull going into Game 3, and they pulled it.

A starting lineup that had been getting outplayed for months and pulverized in the Pacers series was changed, with big man Mitchell Robinson entering the fray and big guard Josh Hart getting relegated to the bench. Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau had relied on the starting unit of Brunson, Towns, Hart, OG Anunoby and Mikal Bridges more than any lineup in the NBA, but finally adjusted with a two-big group to begin Game 3.

The shift was overall a positive. The only Knicks player who finished the game with a negative plus-minus was, funnily enough, Brunson, and Towns obviously responded well despite having company in the paint.

Hart was also unbothered by the change, and ended up playing 34 minutes anyway. He continued to provide the kind of physicality Knicks fans love, especially on a wild rebound that swung the game in the final minute.

The Knicks were up 100-98 when Hart came flying from across the court to pull down a missed Myles Turner 3-point attempt. Instead of Indiana getting a chance at tying the game or taking the lead with some second-chance points, Hart drew a foul and made a pair of free throws to put the Knicks up four points with 20 seconds left. 

It was all Indiana early

For about 35 minutes of game time, you couldn’t have blamed the Gainbridge Fieldhouse fans for thinking it would be this easy.

Losses like Game 1 have broken teams before, and Pascal Siakam’s 39-point outburst in Game 2 left New York short on answers. The game was close early, but a 29-9 run in the second quarter put Indiana up by 20 points, and they cruised with a double-digit led for much of the third quarter.

Vibes were at an all-time high Sunday, with the city also playing host to the Indianapolis 500. The winner of that race, three-time IndyCar champion Alex Palou, even made it to the arena for Game 3.

Sometimes it really is that easy. But these playoffs have made very clear that no double-digit lead is safe, and teams down 2-0 are going to do whatever they can to throw a wrench in the works. We saw that in the Western Conference finals on Saturday, when the Minnesota Timberwolves blew the doors off the high-flying Oklahoma City Thunder and made it a series again.

NEW YORK — At 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, Shohei Ohtani climbed a big league hill for the first time in 614 days.

It wasn’t in front of a sold-out crowd. The Citi Field gates hadn’t even opened. There were no fielders. The catcher called balls and strikes. His opponents were a pair of rookie teammates and a member of the Dodgers coaching staff who hadn’t faced professional pitching in nine years.

Officially, it was just a live batting practice session, a low-stakes environment for a recovering pitcher to ease back into competition. But because it was Ohtani, the session morphed into a can’t-miss event. That it was the three-time MVP’s first time pitching against hitters since his second career reconstructive elbow surgery, only added to the anticipation.

“You know, I’ve gotten so used to seeing him as a hitter,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told reporters afterward. “And so to see him on the mound just solely as a pitcher, it was different. And certainly exciting for all of us.”

ASSOCIATED PRESS

As Ohtani readied to throw, a gaggle of his teammates assembled together behind a protective net set up near home plate. Dozens more Dodger players, coaches and team employees watched from the dirt track in foul territory down the third-base line. Across the diamond, Mets manager Carlos Mendoza and a handful of his players followed along from the home dugout. Media members, television cameras and photographers dotted the otherwise empty stands, jostling for the best possible view of the show.

Only with Ohtani does the mundane feel so momentous.

“It was pretty cool,” Dodgers rookie catcher Dalton Rushing, who struck out in his one at-bat against Ohtani, opined afterward. “You come out here and you basically have the whole clubhouse sitting here watching him off the mound. It’s been a big topic around baseball. Everyone wants to see his first live BP. Glad I could give the people what they wanted to see.”

Ohtani threw 22 pitches across five different at-bats. The velocity clocked in at 94-95 miles per hour, although it reached as high as 97, according to pitching coach Mark Prior. Ohtani called upon his entire arsenal: fastball, sinker, cutter, sweeper, splitter. Rookie infielder Hyeseong Kim made solid contact twice, including a firm comebacker into Ohtani’s glove on the first plate appearance. Rushing received just one at-bat, a strikeout during which he swung through a dastardly breaking ball.

“The stuff is there,” Prior ensured.

Dodgers game-planning coach JT Watkins also took two at-bats, adding a touch of levity. Since Ohtani wasn’t comfortable facing any of his right-handed hitting teammates at this stage, Watkins, who played minor league ball with the Red Sox, volunteered to stand in. He punched out in his first at-bat, before drawing a walk in his second, much to the delight of the Dodgers assembled.

Through it all, Ohtani looked notably at ease. So often the Japanese superstar attacks his craft with an unmistakable seriousness, a fierce intensity. And while he took a deep breath before each pitch, re-calibrating his focus, Ohtani was particularly expressive between his offerings. Happy, borderline giddy, about being back on a mound.

Ohtani’s timetable for return to mound remains unclear

Despite this milestone moment, the path forward, for this singular force, remains murky. Asked what would happen next, Prior was understandably vague.

“He’s gonna DH tonight, and we’re gonna go from there,” Prior said. “And then he’s gonna play tomorrow. He’s gonna DH tomorrow, and we’ll go from there, you know?”

The stressors and hurdles Ohtani faces in his rehab process are unlike any other player in MLB history. Nobody else has ever attempted to return from elbow surgery while simultaneously providing elite production as a hitter. Ohtani reminded everyone of that outrageous reality a few hours after his bullpen session, when he cranked the second pitch of the evening 411 feet for an upper deck moonshot off Mets starter Kodai Senga. It was the Dodgers’ lone run in Sunday’s 3-1 defeat. 

The reigning MVP is hitting .295/.388/.638 with 18 home runs and 11 steals. Last season, his first as a full-time DH, Ohtani became the first player to blast at least 50 homers and steal at least 50 bags. For a Dodgers team operating with thinner margins than expected, Ohtani’s pitching timetable has taken on added importance. But while his pitching would be a welcome boon for a staff depleted by injury, his offense is downright indispensable.

The Dodgers have slow-played Ohtani’s return to pitching, in large part because they need him to continue hitting. This baseball behemoth has and can withstand a lot; a sustained period without one of the game’s most dynamic bats would be a stress test they’d rather avoid.

That’s what makes the on-mound comeback precarious. The fourth pitch he threw on Sunday was a firm comebacker off Kim’s bat that Ohtani coolly snared. It wasn’t hit hard enough to be described as dangerous, but the suddenness of the play served as a subtle reminder: The road ahead carries real risk.

But only Ohtani could even dare to walk it.

In Game 1, the New York Knicks blew a 14-point lead in the fourth quarter against the Indiana Pacers. That game resulted in a 138-135 come-from-behind win for the Pacers at MSG. The pacers went on to win again Friday night in Game 2 — 114-109. The two teams will meet again tonight, this time on the Pacer’s home court, for Game 3. 

You can catch this game – and every other game of the Eastern Conference finals – on TNT and Max. Here’s everything you need to know about how to watch the Knicks vs. Pacers series.

How to watch the Indiana Pacers vs. New York Knicks:

Dates: Sunday, May 25, 2025

Time: 8 p.m. ET (Game 2)

TV channel: TNT, TruTV

Streaming: Max, Sling, DirecTV and more

Where to watch the Knicks vs. Pacers Eastern Conference Finals:

You can tune in to every game of the New York Knicks vs. Indiana Pacers series on TNT and truTV. These channels are available on platforms like DirecTV, Sling and Fubo. The game will also be streaming on Max. 

NBA Eastern Conference Finals channel:

All games in the NBA Eastern Conference finals series between the Pacers and Knicks will air on TNT and truTV.

How to watch the NBA Eastern Conference Finals without cable:

Who is playing in the NBA Eastern Conference Finals?

This year, the New York Knicks will face the Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference finals.

2025 NBA Eastern Conference Finals TV schedule:

All times Eastern.

Game 3

Sun., May 25, 8 p.m. (TNT, truTV, Max)

Game 4

Tues., May 27, 8 p.m. (TNT, truTV, Max)

Game 5*

Thurs., May 29, 8 p.m. (TNT, truTV, Max)

Game 6*

Sat., May 31, 8 p.m. (TNT, truTV, Max)

Game 7*

Mon., June 2, 8 p.m. (TNT, truTV, Max)

*if necessary

More ways to watch the NBA Playoffs:

The 2025 NBA playoffs are in full swing, and the conference finals are underway.

The Oklahoma City Thunder (-300) are now the odds-on title favorites at BetMGM, followed by the Indiana Pacers (+425), Minnesota Timberwolves (11-1) and New York Knicks (20-1). The Wolves responded in a resounding 143-101 statement win in Game 3 to make the series 2-1 in favor of the Thunder.

In the East, the Knicks entered as -155 series favorites, which is only the second time in the past 50 years that the franchise has been favored in a conference finals series. The Pacers, however, won both games at Madison Square Garden to take a 2-0 series lead.

Whereas public betting may waver at times during the NBA season because of all the injuries and load management, the playoffs are a big betting event, Thomas Gable, sportsbook director at the Borgata in Atlantic City — a BetMGM book — told Yahoo Sports.

“From a betting perspective, the handle is very good,” Gable said. “The NBA suffers from the way that they handle the day-to-day season with players resting, and I think a lot of the recreational players have phased out of the NBA because of that. But the playoffs are a totally different story.”

Here are the updated series prices for the 2025 NBA playoffs from BetMGM:

Conference finals series prices

No. 4 Indiana Pacers (-550) vs. No. 3 New York Knicks (+400)

Indiana up 2-0

No. 6 Minnesota Timberwolves (+650) vs. No. 1 Oklahoma City Thunder (-100)

Oklahoma City up 2-1

Round 2 series prices

Eastern Conference

No. 4 Indiana Pacers (-325) vs. No. 1 Cleveland Cavaliers (+260)

Indiana wins 4-1

No. 3 New York Knicks (-275) vs. No. 2 Boston Celtics (+225)

New York up 3-2

Western Conference

No. 4 Denver Nuggets (+240) vs. No. 1 Oklahoma City Thunder (-325)

Oklahoma City wins 4-3

No. 7 Golden State Warriors (+1600) vs. No. 6 Minnesota Timberwolves (-5000)

Minnesota wins 4-1

Round 1 series opening prices

Eastern Conference

No. 8 Miami Heat (12-1) vs. No. 1 Cleveland Cavaliers (-2500)

Cleveland wins 4-0

No. 7 Orlando Magic (16-1) vs. No. 2 Boston Celtics (-5000)

Boston wins 4-1

No. 6 Detroit Pistons (+325) vs. No. 3 New York Knicks (-425)

New York wins 4-2

No. 5 Milwaukee Bucks (+165) vs. No. 4 Indiana Pacers (-200)

Indiana wins 4-1

Western Conference

No. 8 Memphis Grizzlies (10-1) vs. No. 1 Oklahoma City Thunder (-2000)

Oklahoma City wins 4-0

No. 7 Golden State Warriors (-165) vs. No. 2 Houston Rockets (+140)

Golden State wins 4-3

No. 6 Minnesota Timberwolves (+165) vs. No. 3 Los Angeles Lakers (-200)

Minnesota wins 4-1

No. 5 Los Angeles Clippers (-115) vs. No. 4 Denver Nuggets (-105)

Denver wins 4-3