Pacers headed to NBA Finals; Can Knicks fix big issue?; Big signings, trades on NFL horizon?

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🏀 Good morning to all, but especially to …

THE INDIANA PACERS

The pace has officially been set in the Eastern Conference, and no one could keep up. In fact, no one came close. The Pacers are headed to the NBA Finals to face the Thunder after dispatching the Knicks, 125-108, in Game 6 Saturday. It’s Indiana’s first Finals appearance since 2000.

Tyrese Haliburton responded from a shockingly quiet Game 5 with 21 points and 13 assists. But it was series MVP Pascal Siakam‘s 31 points that led the way for Indiana, which got double-digit points from seven players.

Indiana, much like Oklahoma City, has the stars. After being voted “most overrated” by his fellow NBA players, Haliburton has been sending messages all postseason. Siakam — who already has an NBA title on his resume — is a wonderfully skilled, smooth scorer who gets his buckets in all sorts of ways and took it to New York’s best defenders.

But how about Andrew Nembhard, who pestered Jalen Brunson and finished with 14 points, eight assists and six steals? Or Aaron Nesmith, who defended Brunson effectively all series? Or Myles Turner, headed to the Finals after years of being in trade rumors? Or Obi Toppin, who had 18 points off the bench to eliminate his former team?

They certainly aren’t the biggest markets in the Finals, but it’s a tremendous matchup with stars, depth and smart, detail-oriented, well-coached teams. I’m tired of the TV ratings talk. If you like basketball, you’ll watch this series, and you’ll enjoy it.

Jasmyn Wimbish has three early storylines for the Finals, which begin Thursday.

• Wimbish: “We saw Jalen Williams play like the All-Star he is against the Timberwolves, but in the second round against the Nuggets he struggled to be an efficient offensive threat. The Thunder can turn to someone like Chet Holmgren to pick things up if Williams is struggling … All five of Indiana’s stars average double-digit points, and it’s the third-highest scoring bench unit in the postseason. The Pacers have proven pretty much everyone wrong in this run to the Finals.”

😁 Honorable mentions

🏀 And not such a good morning for …

THE NEW YORK KNICKS

This is the closest the Knicks got to the NBA Finals since 1999, but their loss to the Pacers showed they still have a ways to go. Sam Quinn examines what’s next for New York, including its one major flaw.

• Quinn: “The Knicks were predictably terrible without either of their two All-NBA players on the court. When Brunson played without Karl-Anthony Towns, the offense was great enough to support a weak defense. When Towns played without Brunson, the defense was great enough to support a weak offense. When they played together, however, a good offense couldn’t bolster a weak defense. … The concept of surrounding Towns and Brunson with elite wings just didn’t hold up.”

Towns’ defensive issues even became a source of frustration during the season.

Then there’s the Tom Thibodeau question. He has plenty of internal support, but Sam says firing him might get the Knicks to the next level.

😨 Not so honorable mentions

🏈 Post-June 1 cut, trade candidates, plus biggest needs for contenders

It’s June — holy cow, time flies! — and while it’s mostly quiet on the NFL calendar, June 2 is not.

After June 1, expensive veterans become less expensive to move on from, as teams can spread the dead money from their departure over two years, rather than just one. Since 2006, teams have been able to designate up to two players as post-June 1 cuts — Aaron Rodgers is one such example this year — so June 1 is now more important symbolically and financially than anything else.

Traded players, however, can’t be designated as post-June 1 cuts. That’s why today opens up a world of possibilities for players such as Kirk Cousins, Tyreek Hill and Jalen Ramsey, who headline Cody Benjamin’s top cut and trade candidates as we move past June 1. He also has landing spots and predictions for those players, too.

That’s only part of what makes post-June 1 so interesting. After June 1, signings don’t impact the compensatory pick formula, so another wave of player movement will be upon us. Cody assessed biggest remaining needs for contenders, including …

• Benjamin: “Detroit Lions: EDGE — The Lions reportedly sought to move up for a pass rusher at the top of the draft, only to leave the position mostly unaddressed. Aidan Hutchinson‘s return from injury is huge, but Motor City could still use added punch off the edge.”

⚽ PSG throttles Inter in record-setting UEFA Champions League final win

Paris Saint-Germain put the ghosts of past UEFA Champions League failures in the past, and they did it in record-setting fashion. What a future they have, too. Les Parisiens defeated Inter, 5-0, the largest win in UCL final history.

• Achraf Hakimi finished a mesmerizing passing display in the 12th minute, and Desire Doue doubled the lead eight minutes later, when his deflected strike found the back of the net.
• It was Doue again in magnificent fashion in the 63rd minute, ending any faint Inter comeback hopes, before Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Senny Mayulu put on finishing touches.
• It’s the club’s first UCL title.

At 19, Doue is the youngest player ever with a goal and an assist in the UCL final, much less two goals and an assist. Mayulu is 19. Joao Neves is 20. Nuno Mendes is 22. Kvaratskhelia is 24. Hakimi and Ousmane Dembele are 26 and 28, respectively. This team reigns supreme, and it could be just the start, James Benge writes.

• Benge: “What Luis Enrique has is a side that can do it all: controlling possession in midfield, flying across the field on counters where their forwards have no fixed abode and dominating duels with their outstanding back five. Best of all, they may be years off their collective peak. At an average age of 24 years, 262 days they gave up more than half a decade on their opponents … Some players peak early but PSG have enough bright young things that they can plan for a few to get even better. … This could be the first of many, the fourth French empire. They are now the team to beat.”

Still, they aren’t atop Chuck Booth’s top five 2025-26 Champions League contenders.

Let’s not catch ourselves looking ahead, though. This was supposed to be a building year. Instead, they completed the quadruple — the Champions League, Ligue 1, the Coupe de France and the Trophee Des Champions — with former superstars like Kylian Mbappe and Neymar congratulating this year’s team for doing what their teams (and even Lionel Messi‘s teams) couldn’t.

Here’s more:

⚾ MLB Power Rankings, weekend roundup

This is normally not the time of the year for MLB teams to make statements. We haven’t even gotten to the dog days, much less the fall baseball that determines a champion.

Yet we saw the Dodgers make a statement, taking two of three games from the Yankees in their first meetings since the World Series. After two Shohei Ohtani home runs fueled a Friday comeback, Los Angeles handed New York its largest loss against an NL team — 18-2! — Saturday. Max Muncy called it a statement, so we will too.

Give the Yankees credit for coming back Sunday and beating Yoshinobu Yamamoto, but the Dodgers jumped the Yankees in Matt Snyder’s MLB Power Rankings. Here’s the top five:

1. Tigers (previous: 2)
2. Mets (5)
3. Dodgers (4)
4. Yankees (3)
5. Cubs (6)

And here’s more: 

📺 What we’re watching Monday

⚾ Brewers at Reds, 7:10 p.m. on FS1
⚾ Mets at Dodgers, 10:10 p.m. on MLB Network