I guess by February, most games are grudge matches of some sort. The Pacers and Knicks currently stand at 1-1 on the season series. Both teams have been active in the trade market, attempting to take the jump from thorn-in-contender's-side to bonafide contenders themselves. After the Pacers and Knicks each added a Toronto Raptor forward in January, they went back to the well at the deadline, grabbing veteran shooters. In the case of the Pacers, it came in the form of Doug McDermott. The Knicks, for their part, picked up former Pacer Bojan Bogdonavic and Knicks legend Alec Burks.

This time of year is rough for the entire league. We're well aware of the Pacers struggles with injuries over the past month. The Knicks are similarly dealing with a depleted roster, ravaged not only by injury but by a lack of depth due to their trade activity. Without Ryan Arcidiacono, Malachi Flynn, Evan Fournier and Quentin Grimes, who were all part of trades – and Julius Randle, Mitchell Robinson, OG Anunoby, Jalen Brunson, and Jericho Sims out with injury – the Knicks only had eight active players in their last game against the Mavericks. To make matters worse, Isaiah Hartenstein left the game in the second quarter with an Achilles injury. Naturally, the Knicks were outmatched from the jump and lost their second game in three tries after reeling off a nine-game win streak.

The Pacers have remodeled a roster that, for a good stretch of this season, had a serious claim for best chemistry in the league. The question going forward – other than Tyrese Haliburton's health – is whether they can regain those vibes. On paper, the Pacers moves should have made them better than the team that made the IST Championship only a few months ago. Siakam not only filled a glaring hole in the lineup, he's simply a blue-chip player. If Tyrese Haliburton is a race car, Siakam is a Rolls-Royce. He's butter-smooth – a combination of size and skill that's nothing short of a luxury. Still, due to reasons outside of his control, the results have not been there since he joined the team.

And again, on paper, Doug McDermott should be able to provide all the defense-bending shooting and movement that we got from Buddy Hield. But Hield was also Tyrese Halliburton's closest friend on the roster and an uplifting locker room presence.

One of the best attributes of the '23-'24 Pacers has been their resiliency in tough games. They never seem to give up or accept defeat. Will they lose any of that fight – that togetherness – with these moves? We'll find out over the next two (hopefully three or four) months.

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