The Pacers' Engine: Tyrese Haliburton
Has led IND to 11-3 Postseason Record
19.4 PPG 9.8 APG (Most in Playoffs)
25.3 Assist Points Created Per Game (Most in Playoffs)
1,066 Total Passes Made (Most in Playoffs) Haliburton and the Pacers can advance to their first NBA finals since 2000 with a win tonight. ECF Game 5 vs. NYK tips at 8:00pm/et on TNT!
Has led IND to 11-3 Postseason Record
19.4 PPG 9.8 APG (Most in Playoffs)
25.3 Assist Points Created Per Game (Most in Playoffs)
1,066 Total Passes Made (Most in Playoffs) Haliburton and the Pacers can advance to their first NBA finals since 2000 with a win tonight. ECF Game 5 vs. NYK tips at 8:00pm/et on TNT!
Knicks-Pacers: 5 takeaways as New York leans on defense to force Game 6.
NEW YORK – The New York Knicks defended like their season was on the line on Thursday.Facing elimination for the first time this postseason, the Knicks found a way to slow down the Indiana Pacers offense that had torched them for most of the Eastern Conference Finals. In what may have been their best defensive performance of the season, the Knicks got stops early and often on their way to a wire-to-wire 111-94 victory in Game 5 at Madison Square Garden.
The Knicks scored on their first five possessions and never trailed. Jalen Brunson (32 points and five assists) and Karl-Anthony Towns (24 points and 13 rebounds) led the way offensively, and we’re set for a huge Game 6 in Indiana on Saturday (8 ET, TNT).
Here are some notes, quotes, numbers and film as the Pacers were held under a point per possession for the first time in these playoffs …
1. Knicks’ defense plays desperate
The Pacers don’t have as much offensive talent as some other teams, but they may have the toughest offense to defend. They came into Game 5 leading the postseason in player movement and ranking second in ball movement.
Through the first four games, the Knicks couldn’t keep up, allowing 121.1 points per 100 possessions, their worst defensive stretch since the All-Star break.
“In this series, we haven’t lacked scoring,” Towns said. “It’s been more about us not stopping them from scoring.”
In Game 5, the Knicks got stops, holding the Pacers to 94 points on 97 possessions, their worst offensive performance of the playoffs by a healthy margin.
Indiana took some bad shots by choice, but also out of necessity, because the Knicks forced them into no-advantage situations late in the clock.
Indiana was still terrific early in the clock, scoring a series-high 31 transition points on 22 possessions, according to Synergy tracking. But when the Knicks were able to set up, they locked them down.
There were some individual efforts that got the Garden crowd fired up, like when Mitchell Robinson pressured Myles Turner into a turnover early in the third quarter. But to keep the Pacers under a point per possession for 48 minutes, you need multiple efforts from multiple defenders.
When Indiana was beginning to get a little traction offensively late in the first quarter, the Knicks had one of their best defensive possessions of the game. It started with Miles McBride getting over a screen for Tyrese Haliburton and Josh Hart closing out to Obi Toppin and staying in front of his drive. Hart then switched onto T.J. McConnell and kept him from getting to his spot.
Brunson hedged a screen for Haliburton, allowing Ben Sheppard to pop open to the top of the arc, but Mikal Bridges rotated over from the weak side and McBride scrambled out to Bridges’ man. Bridges then kept Sheppard from getting off a clean shot in the paint.
The defense has more control over how the opponent shoots in the paint than how it shoots from the perimeter. And on Thursday, the Pacers shot 17-for-37 (46%) in the paint, their worst mark in the playoffs and their third-worst mark all season.
2. Brunson and Towns continue to cook
The Knicks’ issues through through the first four games did not include the offense from Brunson and Towns. But they still need those guys to score abundantly and efficiently to stay alive in this series.
That wasn’t a problem on Thursday, when the Knicks’ stars outscored the entire Pacers starting lineup, 56-37, with those 56 points coming on a true shooting percentage of 67%.
Brunson came out hot, scoring six points before the Pacers had taken a shot. Aaron Nesmith has been Brunson’s toughest defender in this series, but Brunson wasn’t looking for switches early, and instead took it right at Nesmith for two of those three buckets.
When the Knicks did set screens for him, Brunson didn’t need much of an advantage to get where he wanted to go. The Knicks’ smallest leads in the second half were 10 points, and their point guard got them more separation both times it got that close.
The second of those buckets was a tough floater off the glass with Bennedict Mathurin on his hip.
Towns, meanwhile, continued to attack Turner like he wasn’t anything close to seven-feet tall.
With his 32 and five, Brunson became just the fourth different player in NBA history – joining Michael Jordan (three times), LeBron James (three times) and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (also this year) – with 10 or more games of at least 30 points an five assists in a single postseason.
Towns is having his best offensive playoff series in the nine that he’s played in his career. His 25.4 points is his highest average by a healthy margin in those nine series, while his true shooting percentage of 64.0% is his third highest mark.
3. Knicks go deep on the bench
With his team facing elimination, Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau did not shorten his rotation. Instead, he played enough guys to field a baseball team … with a DH.
For the third straight game, Landry Shamet and Delon Wright got real rotation time. And Thibodeau played a 10th man – Precious Achiuwa – with Towns in foul trouble and Mitchell Robinson being intentionally fouled by the Pacers.
The bench minutes weren’t great; New York was outscored by nine points in Towns’ 12:14 off the floor. But the reserves did enough to at least keep the starters fresh in a game where they were clearly exerting additional energy on defense. Shamet scored five points, his high for these playoffs, and he and Wright both got key defensive stops.
In the regular season, Knicks reserves averaged just 63.5 minutes per game, the lowest mark for any team in the last 15 seasons. Through Game 2 of this series, they averaged just 52.0 per game. But over the last three games, Knicks reserves have averaged 76.7 minutes.
When these two teams faced each other in last year’s conference semifinals, the Knicks lost the war of attrition and had only three of their top eight players available by the end of Game 7. And while it seems doubtful that Achiuwa, Shamet or Wright are going to change a game with their play on either end of the floor, it may be that their minutes allow the top seven guys to have enough gas in the tank should another Knicks-Pacers series go the distance.
4. Pacers come up empty
While the Knicks’ defense was improved, the Pacers’ shot quality wasn’t their worst of the series. It was actually worse in Games 2 and 3, according to Second Spectrum tracking. They missed some good looks.
“I thought there were stretches where we had good shots and didn’t convert,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. “But overall, it wasn’t good enough.”
The Pacers weren’t as purposeful offensively as they were through the first four games. Brunson was the screener’s defender in only 13 ball-screens, down from a career-high 29 in Game 4.
The Pacers’ offense starts with Haliburton, who totaled just eight points in his 32 minutes in Game 5. He’s now averaged 21.3 points (on 48% shooting) in the Pacers’ 11 playoff wins and just 11.5 (on 39%) in their four losses. He took responsibility for the subpar performance on Thursday.
“Rough night for me,” he admitted. “I got to be better, setting the tone, getting downhill. I feel I didn’t do a great job of that.”
5. Can the Knicks do it again?
Slowing the Pacers’ offense down takes a lot of energy. The Knicks were able to do it once, extending their season for at least another 48 hours.
“They played harder than us, loose balls, rebounds, all that,” Pascal Siakam said. “We got to be able to win that battle.”
The Pacers will get another chance on Saturday, when the Knicks will need to summon up a similarly terrific performance. This has been an evenly matched series, with the Pacers up 3-2 and the Knicks having an edge (582-576) in total scoring. Four of the five games could have gone either way.
The Knicks are 6-2 on the road in these playoffs, but the Pacers haven’t lost two straight games since March 10.
The Oklahoma City Thunder are awaiting the winner.
GAME. 6. ON. DECK. Every Game 6 has the same stakes – one team clinches with a win, the other team wins or goes home. But tonight’s contest (8pm/et, TNT) between the Pacers and Knicks, two longtime rivals who’ve given the world an epic series already, brings a little extra drama. A Pacers Win: Clinches the series and the Eastern Conference, advancing Indiana to the NBA finals presented by YouTube tv and a matchup with the Oklahoma City Thunder. A Knicks Win: Extends the series to a winner-take-all Game 7 back in New York on Monday. How Close Has This Series Been? The Pacers lead 3-2 in games, but the Knicks lead in total points by just 6 points (582-576). This is the ninth meeting in the Playoffs between these historic rivals – and the seventh that has required at least six games to determine a winner. The Knicks and Pacers have split their previous Game 6s 3-3. Indy On A Roll: The Pacers enter tonight’s game having won the three most recent Game 6s with the Knicks over the past 25 years. Comeback Trail: The Knicks won the first three Game 6s with the Pacers, including two with similarities to their current challenge... 1994 East Finals: Down 3-2, the Knicks won Game 6 on the road behind John Starks’ 26 points and five 3s to force Game 7 and would go on to win the series thanks to Patrick Ewing’s iconic 24-pt, 22-reb, 7-ast, 5-blk performance and clutch putback slam. 1995 East Semis: Down 3-2, the Knicks again won Game 6 on the road to tie series, before losing in Game 7 at home. Can New York’s duo deliver again on the road to bring the series back to The Garden? The Knicks are 6-2 on the road in this year’s playoffs, including their Game 3 win in Indiana. Or will Indiana bounce back from Thursday’s loss and punch their first ticket to the Finals since 2000 in front of their home fans?
Game 6 officials: James Capers, Tony Brothers & Tyler Ford
JB and KAT. Shaq and Kobe. Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns are the first teammates to both score 20+ PTS in the first 5 games of a Conference Finals series since the Lakers duo did in 2002!
Should be Best of 5 Till the Finals. No injuries
Donaghy claimed two of the three referees involved in Game 6 of the 2002 Western Conference Finals made calls favoring the Lakers.
Were any of these guys here… The fix is in
Donaghy claimed two of the three referees involved in Game 6 of the 2002 Western Conference Finals made calls favoring the Lakers.
I read the article.
So yeah you would think the company guys & the league would probably be looking for a game 7.
Oklahoma City Thunder overwhelming favorites in NBA Finals.
The Oklahoma City Thunder are one of the biggest betting favorites in an NBA Finals across the past 20 seasons.The Thunder opened as -750 favorites over the Indiana Pacers in the Finals at ESPN BET. The Pacers opened as +525 underdogs on Saturday.
Since 2005, only the 2017-18 Golden State Warriors (-1075 versus the Cleveland Cavaliers) had shorter odds heading into the Finals than this season's Thunder.
Game 1, for which the Thunder opened as 9-point favorites, is Thursday in Oklahoma City (ABC, 8:30 p.m. ET).
OKC took care of the Minnesota Timberwolves in five games to return to the NBA Finals for the first time since 2013. The Western Conference champions will face a Pacers team that began the season at 50-1 to win the title but went on a run in the playoffs and finished off the New York Knicks on Saturday in Game 6 of the East finals.
The Pacers, at 50-1, would be the biggest preseason long shots to win the title in the past 40 years. History is against them, however.
Over the past 50 years, only two teams that were at least +200 underdogs to start the NBA Finals -- the 2003-04 Detroit Pistons at +500 and the 2018-19 Toronto Raptors at +230 -- went onto claim the Larry O'Brien Championship Trophy, according to betting archive SportsOddsHistory.com.
Ernie mentioned the production team and the four stars would be moving with the show to ESPN plus the show will still be in Atlanta. I'd like to get odds on, at least, one of the four not making it to show #1. ESPN has not been able to produce a good pre or post game in ten years and when they had a great #1 broadcast team (Van Gundy, Jackson, Breen), they decimated it so they could have a lady on board. Zero chemistry in that group. Hard to believe they will be completely hands off during the change and, based on their history, any potential change will be bad for viewers.
