The Knicks, who led by 14 points with 2:51 to play in the fourth quarter, succumbed to a barrage of three-pointers from the Indiana Pacers down the stretch before falling in overtime, 138-135, in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals on Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden.
New York recovered from the blown lead and Tyrese Haliburton's buzzer-beater to send the game to the extra period by grabbing a four-point edge, and off a steal, Jalen Brunson had a layup taken off the glass in what looked like a goaltend. The Pacers answered with five straight from Andrew Nembhard,starting a back-and-forth battle with Brunson doing the scoring for the Knicks. But Indiana had a one-point edge with 27 seconds to play when head coach Tom Thibodeau called for time after Obi Toppin's tip-slam.
But a turnover, the Knicks' third of the overtime, and a blown defensive assignment led to another Toppin slam to put the visitors up by three with 15 ticks to play. The ball was in Brunson's hand, but his three was way short. Josh Hart grabbed a rebound and found Karl-Anthony Towns, but he was well short, too. When Bridges couldn't corral the rebound, the first game of the best-of-7 series had fully slipped through their fingers.
Here are the takeaways...
- The fourth quarter started poorly, had an amazing middle, and an even worse finish for the Knicks. It began when Brunson, the NBA’s clutch player of the year and engine of the Knicks’ offense, exited after he picked up his fifth foul after just 115 seconds and New York up by two.
OG Anunoby, who finished with 16 points, had a 5-0 run starting with a step-back three to push the lead back to seven. Miles McBride blocked Pascal Siakam as he attempted a jam,Towns added a block of his own, and Indiana was held to 1-for-9 from the floor before Anunoby’s layup gave the Knicks a 16-point lead (their biggest of the game) with 7:22 to play. It was a 14-0 run in under three minutes after Brunson sat.
And then, it all changed with 3:44 to play. Indiana responded with a barrage of threes, and a 10-3 run, cutting it to a seven-point game with 80 seconds to play. Brunson, who returned with five minutes to play and hit the lone three in that run, responded with a driving layup. But Indiana added two more threes (around a Towns layup) to make it a five-point game with 34 seconds left.
Out of a Knicks’ timeout, they turned it over (thanks to a smart Pacers challenge), and an Aaron Nesmith three, his third straight for Indiana, made it a two-point game with 22 seconds to play. After another near turnover on the in-bounds, Towns was fouled with 14 seconds to play but only managed to make the first from the line. Then the Knicks played the foul game: Anunoby got Nesmith immediately, and he made a pair. Siakam got Anunoby, who got just the second with 7.3 to play.
And Haliburton, with a toe barely on the three-point line, hit back iron, had the ball bounce high off the rim and right through to tie the game at the buzzer.
- Brunson finished with 43 points on 15-for-25 shooting (1-for-6 from deep, 12-for-14 from the line) with five assists and seven turnovers. He was a minus-8 in 38 minutes. Towns had 35 points on 11-for-17 shooting (4-for-8 from deep) with 12 rebounds and was a plus-9 in 39 minutes. Anunoby was a minus-12 in 42 minutes. Bridges had 16 points, six rebounds (four offensive), five assists, and was a minus-15 in 46 minutes. Hart was quiet on offense with eight points, but had 13 rebounds, seven assists and was a minus-4 in 44 minutes.
A big difference: Indiana had 27 points off the 15 New York turnovers. The home team managed just four points off of seven turnovers by the visitors.
Haliburton had 31 points (12-for-23) and was a plus-15 in 42 minutes. Nesmith had 30 points (9-for-13) and was a plus-10 in 39 minutes. Siakam added 17 points as a plus-8 in 43 minutes and Nembhard had 15 and was a plus-1 in 35 minutes.
- The key for the Knicks against the Pacers, a team that wants to push the pace and attack New York’s short rotation with waves of players coming off an eight-day layoff, was to limit turnovers and control the defensive glass to keep possessions short.
Unfortunately for the home side, the visitors scarcely missed a shot in the game’s early minutes, missing just three shots in their first 15 attempts after they opened the game by making their first nine field goals. The Knicks made five of their first nine attempts to keep things close.
Mitchell Robinson entered and the offensive rebounds came right away. After the Pacers matched their biggest lead of the quarter at seven, he corralled his third of the period and kicked it to McBride for a three as part of a big run for New York, including Robinson stuffing an alley-oop. The reserve center added a block and steal and was a plus-6 in five minutes.
The run stretched to 14-5 to give the Knicks a two-point edge after shooting 15-for-23 (65 percent) to Indiana's 14-for-20 (70 percent). Bridges and Towns had eight points each.
Overall, Robinson had two points and eight rebounds (four offensive) and was even in 21 minutes. McBride had nine points (2-for-7) and was a plus-12 in 25 minutes.
- The Pacers’ full-court press began on the first made basket with two men guarding Brunson. But the Knicks’ MVP managed to find his way into the offense and against a wave of Indiana defenders – Nesmith, Nembhard, and TJ McConnell (off the bench) – followed a nine-point first quarter with nine in the second. And at the half, Nembhard had three fouls while Nesmith and McConnell each had two.
But three minutes into the third, it was Brunson who picked up his third foul on the offensive end as he got tangled with Nesmith. (Thibodeau unsuccessfully challenged the call.) Four minutes later, Brunson committed his fourth turnover and then picked up his fourth personal for fouling Haliburton on a jumper. He stayed in the game and put in a floater for an and-1 for seven in the quarter and 25 in the game.
After Haliburton hit a three to give him 23 in the game, Brunson (following a Robinson offensive board) hit a step-back jumper. Haliburton’s response: an air-balled three and a Pacers timeout. Brunson finished the quarter with nine points, of course.
- In the second, the Pacers’ shooting went cold and they suffered through a four-minute stretch without a field goal, including Toppin missing a wide-open tomahawk dunk, leading to Towns knocking down a corner three for a 13-1 Knicks run and an eight-point lead.
Even with Robinson off the court, the Knicks’ offensive rebounding proved a problem for Indiana; the home side had six rebounds on the offensive end (three of the team variety) as the shooting slowed down to 10-for-26 (38 percent) in the second quarter. The Knicks got nine second-chance points and 32 points in the paint through 24 minutes for a 69-62 halftime lead, with Towns adding seven points and Bridges four in the quarter. The Pacers' shooting fell off a cliff in the second: 9-for-26 (35 percent). But they recovered in a big way in the second half.
- Bridges continued to have a terrific two-way game to start the second half, collecting his third block of the game. But Indiana responded with a 10-4 run in less than two minutes, knocking down four-straight buckets to cut New York’s lead to three, forcing a Thibs timeout.
Indiana out-shot attempted New York in the third (21 to 14) as they hit the offensive glass hard, but the Knicks converted a higher percentage (57 to 48). But the nine-point lead in the quarter’s first minute was just three points entering the fourth.
- Cam Payne struggled with the bench unit to start the second quarter, committing two fouls early. But he made his first three since the opening round series to end a long drought from behind the arc. His second three capped a 10-1 run to give New York a five-point edge. He finished with six points and was a plus-5 in 10 minutes.
Highlights
What's next
These two teams are back in action at MSG on Friday night for an 8 p.m. tip.
