Who has the bigger challenge, Walsh with the Knicks or Larry Bird with the Pacers?

Walsh

"I'm going to say me," Walsh said. "I think we have a lot of work to do with New York and that may be because I haven't seen all the parts working. (With the Pacers), I've been impressed with the guys that have been playing, like Mike Dunleavy and Troy Murphy, guys that when we made the trade last year everybody was, 'Wow, that was a knockout trade.' I don't know that you can say that anymore. Mike Dunleavy should be a candidate for Most Improved Player of the year. Troy Murphy I think has re-established himself as a guy that can play meaningful minutes in this league.

"Our biggest problem here was that Jermaine O'Neal was hurt the whole year and I guess isn't really playing up to what he can right now. We went into the year knowing we weren’t going to be an elite team but we thought we could make the playoffs. I think those injuries took that out. With New York, I think something didn't work early and it really affected their team throughout the year. It isn't a matter of guys not playing it's more when they were all together they didn't gel, so I've got to look at the chemistry."

After 24 seasons with the Pacers, 22 as the head of basketball operations, Walsh left to become President of the Knicks on April 2, returning to Conseco Fieldhouse with his new team for the regular-season finale Wednesday night. He said his new life in New York has been "a whirlwind, kind of running around like a chicken with your head cut off."

"I'm trying to find and learn everyone in the organization and I think I'm getting better," he said. "I'm familiarizing myself so I'm getting in position of where I need to be."

As he entered, for the first time as an opponent, the arena he helped make possible by building a team that reached the playoffs 16 of 17 years, including six trips to the Eastern Conference Finals and one NBA Finals berth, Walsh was struck by the moment.

"It's a strange feeling, very strange," Walsh said. "And I knew when I came down the tunnel that it would hit me and it did. I've had 24 of the best years of my life here so coming back here is very sentimental for me, particularly coming back with another team but that's where it is and life moves on."

Walsh was presented with an glass engraving of the Pacers logo in a pregame ceremony with co-owner, Chairman and CEO of Pacers Sports & Entertainment Herbert Simon addressing the crowd.

"We wish him well in his new endeavor, except when we play them. Then, we'll have to think about it," said Simon. "If he'd stayed a couple of months longer, maybe he would've gotten a Bentley."