Knicks Slow Down Pacers, 111-94
The New York Knicks jumped out to a 10-3 lead, never trailed, and held the Indiana Pacers to their lowest point total of the 2025 playoffs in a 111-94 game five win. The Knicks saved their season just two days after the Pacers scored 130 points at home in their game four victory, the Pacers' second highest scoring total in the 2025 playoffs, trailing only their 138 points in their game one overtime win versus the Knicks. The series shifts back to Indianapolis on Saturday night with the Pacers having a second opportunity to eliminate the Knicks and advance to the NBA Finals for the first time since 2000--but if the Knicks win again then game seven will be played in New York on Monday night. In game five, the Knicks limited the Pacers to 16 fast break points after allowing 22 in game five, they outrebounded the Pacers 45-40, they outscored the Pacers 60-34 in the paint, and they committed 15 turnovers while forcing 19 turnovers.
Jalen Brunson scored a game-high 32 points on 12-18 field goal shooting while also dishing for a team-high tying five assists and grabbing five rebounds. Karl-Anthony Towns had 24 points plus a game-high 13 rebounds. Towns shot 10-20 from the field, and he aggressively attacked in the paint instead of settling for three pointers. Brunson and Towns are the first teammates to each score at least 20 points in the first five games of a Conference Finals series since Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant accomplished that feat in the 2002 Western Conference Finals. Brunson and Towns are defensive liabilities at times, but that was not the case in this game, as indicated by their plus/minus numbers (+18 and +26 respectively). Mikal Bridges scored 12 points and had a team-high tying five assists. Josh Hart came off of the bench but still played 34 productive minutes (12 points, 10 rebounds, four assists).
Bennedict Mathurin led the Pacers with 23 points and nine rebounds in 25 minutes off of the bench, but the Pacers' starters scored just 37 points on 13-39 (.333) field goal shooting. Pascal Siakam, who had 15 points on 5-13 field goal shooting, was the only starter who scored more than eight points. Tyrese Haliburton, who had a historic triple double in game four, notched a game-high six assists and had no turnovers for the second consecutive game, but he scored just eight points on 2-7 field goal shooting; he is the engine that drives the Pacers' high octane offensive attack, but that engine was stuck in neutral for most of game five as the Knicks pressured Haliburton all over the court.
The Knicks led 86-64 with 2:12 left in the third quarter, but the Pacers cut the margin to 96-84 on a Jarace Walker three pointer at the 8:15 mark of the fourth quarter. The Pacers won game one in overtime despite trailing by 14 points with 2:45 remaining in the fourth quarter, but this time the Knicks responded with a 6-0 run and led by at least 14 points the rest of the way.
Many playoff games inspire dramatic overreactions punctuated by phrases such as "Team X made a big adjustment," or "Team X really found something that changed the momentum of the series." During the 2013 NBA Finals, 11-time NBA champion Bill Russell sagely noted, "You have to make adjustments that your team can make." An adjustment will only work if it is something that a team has previously practiced and is thus mentally/physically prepared to execute; contrary to widely disseminated narratives, teams are not coming up with entirely new game plans on the fly. When Jeff Van Gundy was an analyst for ABC/ESPN, he consistently refuted the notion that in-game adjustments decide the outcomes of playoff series and he emphasized that "play harder" is the best "adjustment" that a team can make.
After game five, Indiana Coach Rick Carlisle repeatedly mentioned that his team did not play with enough energy and force, and New York Coach Tom Thibodeau dismissed the notion that he had made any significant offensive or defensive adjustments.
The Knicks won game five because they played harder than the Pacers. The team that plays harder will win game six, and it will likely be evident by the end of the first quarter which team will win.
Labels: Indiana Pacers, Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns, New York Knicks, Pascal Siakam, Tyrese Haliburton
posted by David Friedman @ 12:17 PM
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