NEW YORK — The New York Knicks host the Indiana Pacers at Madison Square Garden on Friday night for a winner-take-all Game Seven that will send one of the two franchises to the Eastern Conference finals against the Boston Celtics, who have been waiting since their five-game closeout of Cleveland on Monday for the bracket to resolve.

Tip-off is set for 8:00 p.m. Eastern, with the game broadcast on TNT and streamed on Max. The Garden, which has not hosted a Game Seven since the Knicks’ first-round series against Miami in the 2013 playoffs, sold out within thirty-six minutes when single-game tickets went on sale Wednesday morning, with secondary-market pricing for lower-bowl seats reportedly clearing above six thousand dollars by Thursday evening.

The series has been characterized by sharp swings of momentum and by the kind of defensive intensity that the Eastern Conference’s two best half-court teams produce when matched against each other. New York led the series 3-2 entering Wednesday night’s Game Six in Indianapolis but was overwhelmed in the second half of that game, with Indiana scoring fifty-eight second-half points to win 117-106 and force the series back to New York.

Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau, in his pre-game availability Thursday afternoon, said the team’s preparation had focused on the second-half defensive lapses that allowed Indiana to control Game Six’s flow. Thibodeau attributed those lapses primarily to “shot-quality drift” — a tendency to take low-quality shots when Indiana applied late-shot-clock pressure — rather than to specific scheme failures. He said the team had spent Thursday’s practice working on late-clock decision-making.

Jalen Brunson, who has averaged 28.3 points per game across the series and who scored 34 in the Game Five win, said in his pre-game press availability that the team’s mental approach to Game Seven would be “the simplest thing in the world.” Brunson, who has now played in three Game Sevens in his career — two with Dallas and one with New York — said the experience pattern was consistent: the team that plays the most fundamentally sound basketball wins the elimination game.

For the Pacers, the keys to the road win will be the same patterns that delivered the Game Six victory. Indiana’s offense has been most effective when generating early-clock advantages through transition opportunities and through Tyrese Haliburton’s pick-and-roll initiation. Haliburton, who recorded a triple-double in Game Six, has averaged 24.7 points and 11.2 assists across the series and has been the primary engine of Indiana’s offensive performance.

Pacers coach Rick Carlisle, who has now coached three Game Sevens in his career, said the team’s mental approach would be focused on maintaining the patterns that produced the Game Six win rather than on changing the team’s approach because of the road environment. “We have played some of our best basketball on the road in this series,” Carlisle said. “There is no reason to think the Garden will change that pattern. The Knicks need to bring it tonight. They are a very good team. We will see if our patterns hold up.”

The winner of Game Seven will travel to Boston for a Game One of the Eastern Conference finals scheduled for Sunday afternoon, with the conference final series structured to allow for a two-day rest before Game Two in Boston on Tuesday evening. The Celtics, who have been resting and conducting limited team practices since their Monday closeout, are expected by team observers to be in particularly good physical condition for the conference final.

Boston coach Joe Mazzulla, in a press availability conducted in Boston Friday morning, said the team had spent the week’s practices working primarily on its own offensive sets while reviewing extensive scouting tape on both Game Seven candidates. “We will be ready for either one,” Mazzulla said. “They are different teams. They will require different approaches. We have prepared for both.”

The Western Conference finals between Oklahoma City and Minnesota will tip Sunday night in Oklahoma City, with the Thunder having advanced via a Game Six closeout in Minneapolis on Tuesday and the Wolves having been eliminated despite Anthony Edwards’s 47-point Game Five performance. The Western Conference final’s schedule has been structured to avoid direct overlap with the Eastern Conference final’s broadcast windows.

The NBA Finals are tentatively scheduled to begin on May 30, with the league’s schedulers having held that date open since the early stages of the playoffs to accommodate the various series-resolution paths. The exact tip schedule will be confirmed by the league office on Monday morning following the Friday Game Seven result.

Friday night’s Game Seven will be officiated by a three-person crew led by veteran lead official James Capers, with the league’s standard Game-Seven protocols in effect. The first quarter is expected to tip at 8:08 p.m. Eastern following the league’s national-anthem and player-introduction window.