The New York Rangers opened their Eastern Conference semifinal series against the Carolina Hurricanes with a win on Sunday, and the Knicks would love to join their arena mates with a 1-0 lead on the hardwood. The Pacers won two of the three regular season meetings between these rivals, but Indiana struggled to defend Jalen Brunson. The Knicks' star averaged 36 points per game during those matchups, and he's riding a hot hand right now after scoring 35.5 points per game in New York's six-game series win over Philadelphia. Indiana also needed six games to get past a short-handed Milwaukee team, but the Pacers dominated in their four wins with an average margin of victory at 14 points per game. When you think about a second round playoff series like this, you anticipate a feeling-out process from both teams. That's simply not in Indiana's DNA. The Pacers have kept their foot on the gas all season. They may need to make adjustments later in the series, but for Game 1, why change what has worked all year and has gotten you to this point? The three meetings between these teams saw an average of 238.7 points per game. The three closing totals for those games were 248, 235.5 and 237.5. Yes, this is the playoffs. Yes, the game will slow down. But will it slow down by 20 points? The over was 4-2 in the Knicks' series with the Sixers. The over was 4-2 in the Pacers' series with the Bucks. Out of the 16 playoff teams, the Knicks and Pacers were top-six in offensive rating in the opening round.