We're just a few short days away from the New York Knicks and Indiana Pacers renewing hostilities in the Eastern Conference finals and ESPN's Stephen A. Smith is working himself into quite a lather over it. Appearing on First Take Monday morning, the pundit took things in several different directions with one main theme connecting them all: how excited his is for big-time basketball to be back in the Big Apple.

Asked to look into a crystal ball, Smith believes there is a 40% chance his Knicks win the NBA championship, which is a number not based on anything but the gut of one clearly partisan human being. So don't take it as gospel.

Interestingly enough, though, Smith thinks the Pacers will push the Knicks to seven games but eventually fall short. Why? Because there's no place like Madison Square Garden apparently.

"There is a different flavor [at MSG], a different vibe that forces the opposition at times to shrink," Smith said. "And I believe that is what's going to happen in this series."

And it could! It really could! The moment may prove too large for the Pacers as a random bunch of celebrities look on courtside. But it didn't last year when they torched the Knicks at the Mecca in a Game 7 to advance to the Eastern Conference finals. And the Knicks are 3–3 this postseason while playing at home. Plus it's been a quarter century since New York advanced this far in the playoffs. Where was the magical building for all of those years?

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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Stephen A. Smith Confident the Pacers Won't Win a Game 7 at MSG Two Years in a Row.

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