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Knicks Legend Loves 'Healthy' NBA Finals Matchup

Don't count one New York Knicks legend among those dreading an NBA Finals against two small-market squads.
Geoff Magliocchetti|
Apr 23, 2018; Salt Lake City, UT, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder forward Carmelo Anthony (7) walks off the court during the first half of game four of the first round of the 2018 NBA Playoffs against the Utah Jazz at Vivint Smart Home Arena. Mandatory Credit: Russ Isabella-Imagn Images
Apr 23, 2018; Salt Lake City, UT, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder forward Carmelo Anthony (7) walks off the court during the first half of game four of the first round of the 2018 NBA Playoffs against the Utah Jazz at Vivint Smart Home Arena. Mandatory Credit: Russ Isabella-Imagn Images | Russ Isabella-Imagn Images

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New York Knicks legend Carmelo Anthony is okay with OKC facing off against the Indiana Pacers in the NBA Finals.

The matchup between the Pacers and Oklahoma City Thunder, which gets underway on Thursday night (8:30 p.m. ET, ABC), has generated debates in hardwood social circles. It's a meeting of small-market squads and the first Finals where neither market appears in the top 20 of the current Nielsen ratings since the 1971 set, when the Milwaukee Bucks swept the Baltimore Bullets.

Don't count Anthony among the detractors, however, as he is enthused to see two mid-budget teams that built their success through homegrown talents rather than star-chasing do battle for the Larry O'Brien Trophy.

"From the powers that be, they're actually really loving this Finals [matchup]," Anthony, who spent the 2017-18 season in Oklahoma City, said on the latest edition of his web series "7PM in Brooklyn." "Now it's two smaller-market teams who actually say, look, we did it this way, we didn't do it that way. There's no big three, four over here, we're homegrown over here."

Indiana and Oklahoma City each traded for their respective franchise faces (Tyrese Haliburton and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander) prior to their All-Star breakouts and surrounded their rises to the top with sterling draft stars.

The Thunder built an NBA-best 68-14 record with the partial help of Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams while Pacers picked up depth stars like Bennedict Mathurin and Andrew Nembhard. Each side has also made use of role players that perhaps slipped under the radar on the transaction log, such as Alex Caruso, Aaron Nesmith, Pascal Siakam, and former Knick Isaiah Hartenstein, who serves as the Thunder's starting center.

Anthony, who is hoping for a seven-game set, agreed with his co-host Kazeem Famuyide's assessment that such a matchup is "healthy" for the Association. The series is just the sixth of its kind in the new century to not feature the Boston Celtics, Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Lakers, or a team featuring LeBron James, joining the bouts staged in 2003 (New Jersey-San Antonio), 2005 (Detroit-San Antonio), 2006 (Dallas-Miami), 2021 (Milwaukee-Phoenix), and 2023 (Denver-Miami).

Additionally, the series will produce not only a non-repeat champion for the seventh consecutive season (the longest such streak since an 18-year tally between 1970 and 1987), but it will also end lengthy championship droughts on either side: Oklahoma City has but one title in its case (prevailing as the Seattle SuperSonics in 1979) while the Pacers have yet to claim and NBA championship since moving up from the ABA in 1976.

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Geoff Magliocchetti
GEOFF MAGLIOCCHETTI

Geoff Magliocchetti is a veteran sportswriter who contributes to a variety of sites on the "On SI" network. In addition to the Yankees/Mets, Geoff also covers the New York Knicks, New York Liberty, and New York Giants and has previously written about the New York Jets, Buffalo Bills, Staten Island Yankees, and NASCAR.

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