Eastern Conference playoffs: Bucks crumble in epic collapse, Pacers advance

The 2025 NBA playoffs are in full swing, and our NBA insiders have you covered for every game in the march to the Finals.

One Eastern Conference semifinals series is set after the No. 4 Indiana Pacers eliminated the No. 5 Milwaukee Bucks in overtime Tuesday. The Pacers now advance to take on the No. 1 seed Cleveland Cavaliers, who swept the No. 8 seed Miami Heat on Monday.

Meanwhile, the No. 3 New York Knicks and the No. 6 Detroit Pistons will be heading to Game 6 in their first-round series, while the No. 2 Boston Celtics will look to eliminate the No. 7 seed Orlando Magic on Tuesday. The teams that emerge from those two series will face each other in the next round.

As the East playoffs continue, here’s what matters most and what to watch with the second round looming.

Jump to a series:
Cavaliers-Heat | Celtics-Magic
Knicks-Pistons | Pacers-Bucks

More coverage:
West first-round takeaways
Schedules and results |Offseason guides

Tuesday’s games

Game 5: Pacers 119, Bucks 118 (OT)

What we learned:

The Pacers continued their dominance over the Bucks, rallying from a 20-point deficit in Game 5 to come back and win the series-clinching contest in overtime on a game-winning layup from Tyrese Haliburton. Indiana eliminated Milwaukee for the second consecutive season and the Pacers are 8-3 against the Bucks in the playoffs during that span.

It sets up a second-round matchup between the Pacers and top-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers, who have the best offense in the NBA and just swept the Miami Heat in their first-round series. If the Pacers can pull off an upset, they could return to the Eastern Conference finals for the second straight season.

The Bucks did not go down without a fight, thanks to a 30-point, 20-rebound triple-double from Giannis Antetokounmpo and a new starting lineup that began the game on a 13-0 run. Coach Doc Rivers made a surprising change, inserting Bobby Portis, AJ Green and Kevin Porter Jr. into the starting unit in favor of Kyle Kuzma, Brook Lopez and the injured Damian Lillard. But the season ended in heartbreaking fashion with Gary Trent Jr. committing two turnovers in the final 30 seconds of OT after having just one the entire series before.

— Jamal Collier

Game 5: Pistons 106, Knicks 103

What we learned:

That things look a lot different when Detroit’s Ausar Thompson is playing a good enough game on offense, and a clean enough one on defense, to stay on the floor. He’s been the best defender on Knicks star Jalen Brunson by far, and with Thompson logging 29 minutes in Game 5 — the most he’s played in any game this series — Brunson struggled, shooting just 4-for-16 for 16 points. He’d had score at least 30 in each of the prior four contests.

Game 6: New York at Detroit (Thursday, 7:30 p.m. ET, TNT)

What to watch for:

The health of Brunson and Josh Hart, who both left the game with just under three minutes left in the game. They then returned to the sideline, awkwardly standing at the scorer’s table until there were less than 30 seconds left.

After the game, Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau suggested that he didn’t want to burn the one remaining timeout he had, and that he also didn’t want to have his team foul with the Pistons in the bonus. But the decision not to do either, with two of the team’s starters ready to re-enter the game, will be heavily debated.

— Chris Herring

Game 5: Orlando at Boston (Tuesday, 8:30 p.m. ET, NBA TV)

What to watch:

This has been a grinding, exhausting series for the Celtics, and you can be sure that the defending champions will be desperate to end it Tuesday in Boston to get some much-needed rest before facing the winner of the Pistons-Knicks series. It’ll be interesting to see whether the Celtics can get back to playing their style at home — or whether the Magic will continue to have these games played on their terms.

— Baxter Holmes

Game 4: Cavaliers 138, Heat 83

What we learned:

It was 70-25 late in the second quarter of Game 4 — a margin representing a lot for both the Cavs and the Heat, as the former moves on to the second round of the playoffs after securing a four-game sweep of the latter.

It was as lopsided a score as you will probably ever see in an elimination game. The Cavs started 11-of-20 from 3-point range, while the Heat started 2-of-23. Let’s just say the intensity levels of the two teams were not leveled up, with the Heat’s lethargy setting quite the contrast to that of the Cavs.

Cleveland broke the Heat with a strong finish to Game 2. In Games 3 and 4, when Cleveland guard Darius Garland was out with a sprained toe, the Cavs leaned into boosting De’Andre Hunter‘s playing time and giving additional minutes to Dean Wade, two forwards who shared the available playing time. The result was big lineups that effectively walled off the paint for the Heat and made for hard denials of Tyler Herro, who largely had a miserable series.

Playing the big lineups is a lesson for the Cavs should they get into a pickle against stronger teams later in the postseason; going back to them could prove to be a valuable curveball, as one of Cleveland’s few weaknesses is a lack of size in the backcourt. Otherwise, there wasn’t much learning to be had this evening.

— Brian Windhorst