Bill Simmons Hints at Knicks 'Conspiracy' for Game 6

It's a conspiracy, and everyone's in on it, even the New York Knicks.

So partly claims Bill Simmons, as the longtime basketball commentator went full "Conspiracy Bill" when analyzing the remainder of the Eastern Conference Finals between the Knicks andIndiana Pacers. The winner of the set lands a date with the Oklahoma City Thunder in the NBA Finals, which tip off next week.

Indiana leads the best-of-seven ECF series 3-2, but Simmons believes that the NBA would appreciate if the Knicks not only extended the affair but perhaps completed the comeback.

"If Indiana wins one more game, we’re going to have an Indiana vs. Oklahoma City Finals,” Simmons said on his platform The Ringer. “But if the Knicks win the series, we’ll have the Knicks in the Finals, and if you’ve noticed from ratings and interest, it’s a little more interesting nationally when there’s a New York team in the Finals.”

Will the Pacers or Knicks win the East?

Conspiracy Bill is back to highlight the parallels between this series and the 2002 Western Conference finals.@BillSimmons @HousefromDC @RobMahoney pic.twitter.com/eFdUXTZ9nm
— The Ringer (@ringer) May 30, 2025

Per 2024-25 Nielsen rankings, Indianapolis is the 25th-largest market in the country while Oklahoma City ranks 47th on the same list. All, of course, trail New York, which firmly holds the the top spot ahead of Los Angeles. No NBA Finals have featured two teams outside of the current top 20 since 1971, when the Milwaukee Bucks bested the Baltimore Bullets (assuming one doesn't count the 2003 series between the San Antonio Spurs and New Jersey Nets, with some including the latter group as part of the New York market).

Simmons compared the current Knicks-Pacers series to the 2002 Western Conference Finals: in that set, the small-market Sacramento Kings held a 3-2 lead on a Los Angeles Lakers group led by Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal.

With the winner set to face the aforementioned New Jersey Nets, the series' officiating heavily shifted in the Lakers' favor in back-to-back series closing victories, allowing them to play, and win, a third consecutive championship. To this day, the Kings-Lakers series remains one of the most scrutinized playoff matchups in NBA history.

Simmons hinted that he wouldn't be surprised to see a similar scenario break out in what's left of the Knicks-Pacers showdown and offered a word of warning to anyone potentially placing money on the Pacers for Game 6 on Saturday night.

"If Sacramento wins, we’re going to have a Sacramento-New Jersey Finals and [then-commissioner] David Stern was like, ‘Not on my watch. This is not happening. We are not letting this happen,’" Simmons said. "We did not get a Sacramento-New Jersey Finals. Let’s be careful out there for Game 6 if you’re wagering.”

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