Over the past two years, the New York Knicks and Indiana Pacers have reignited their rivalry from the early 1990s. The two teams have faced in the playoffs in consecutive years, with Indiana besting the Knicks in both the 2024 and 2025 Playoffs. Knicks’ All-NBA guard Jalen Brunson left everything he had on the court.
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Despite the lingering pain, he spoke praise for Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle. Brunson’s actions may rub some Knicks fans the wrong way, but Carlisle isn’t just another NBA head coach to the two-time All-Star. Carlisle was the head coach of the Dallas Mavericks during Brunson’s tenure with the team.
The two spent three seasons together until Carlisle stepped down as head coach following the 2020-21 campaign. He would then return to the Indiana Pacers for his second stint as the team’s head coach. Brunson shortly followed suit, finding a new home in New York ahead of the 2022-23 season.
Brunson knows Carlisle’s coaching style pretty well, considering he played within the system. Despite Indiana having a different roster construction than Dallas at the time, Brunson doesn’t see many differences between his Dallas squad and the current Pacers.
“It still feels like a Rick Carlisle-coached team,” Brunson said on the Roommates Show. “He’s always been a great offensive like X’s and O’s type of coach.”
Carlisle’s entire offensive philosophy relies on his team maintaining a great pace of play. That is evident with this year’s Pacers team, as they were sixth in the NBA in fastbreak points.
“The plays that they run have so many different options. If you take away something, you’re going to take away this or we have that,” Brunson remarked. “You’re going to do this or we’re going to counter or this. So, like, it wasn’t like things were insanely different. It was a lot of reading and reacting to certain things that we were doing defensively.”
Moreover, Indiana likes to have multiple options for their actions. For example, if the Knicks took away the Haliburton-Myles Turner pick-and-roll, they could pivot to a Pascal Siakam two-man game with Aaron Nesmith. It constantly keeps a defense on their toes, and Brunson applauded Carlisle for it.
“He’s always been that way, and that’s what makes him a great coach,” Brunson said.
It’s not by chance that Carlisle continues to have a head coaching career for 24 years and counting. All of his experience has been a vital reason as to why the Pacers are currently in the 2025 NBA Finals. To their advantage, this isn’t his first time in such a high-stakes atmosphere.
In 2011, Carlisle led the Dallas Mavericks to the franchise’s first NBA title in a legendary series win over the Miami Heat. 14 years later, Carlisle looks to prove he isn’t a one-hit wonder. Things are looking good for him as the Pacers are just two games away from becoming NBA champions.
