Siakam If You Got 'Em: Siakam Slams Knicks as Pacers Take 2-0 Series Lead
Pascal Siakam scored a playoff career-high 39 points on 15-23 field goal shooting to lead the Indiana Pacers to a 114-109 win over the New York Knicks in game two of the Eastern Conference Finals. Siakam is an NBA champion, a two-time All-NBA Team member, and a three-time All-Star, and his value may be overlooked by casual fans, but he has played a major role in the Pacers' tremendous 2025 playoff run. Myles Turner added 16 points, while Tyrese Haliburton ran the show with 14 points, a game-high tying 11 assists, and a team-high eight rebounds. Game one hero Aaron Nesmith contributed 12 points and seven rebounds. T.J. McConnell scored 10 points and passed for four assists in just 14 minutes off of the bench. The Pacers ranked 17th in points allowed and 23rd in defensive field goal percentage during the regular season, and they rank 13th and seventh respectively in those categories during the 16 team playoffs, but that might turn out to be good enough to win the Eastern Conference when paired with the Pacers' high octane offense.
Jalen Brunson scored a team-high 36 points and passed for a game-high tying 11 assists, but he could not quite bring the Knicks back from a 10 point fourth quarter deficit. Mikal Bridges had 20 points and seven rebounds in a game-high 45 minutes. Karl-Anthony Towns also had 20 points and seven rebounds, but he posted a team-worst -20 plus/minus number, and he scored just two fourth quarter points while sitting out more than half of the final stanza. A major problem for the Knicks is that their two best offensive players--Brunson and Towns--are defensive liabilities who are regularly targeted by opposing teams. Mitchell Robinson had a strong game off of the bench, muscling his way to a game-high nine rebounds in 29 minutes. He also had an impact defensively with a game-high three blocked shots and a forceful presence in the paint, but he scored just six points; if the Knicks could combine Robinson's defense/rebounding with Towns' offense into one player then they would have something special--and they likely would not be trailing 2-0 in this series.
The Knicks led 52-49 at halftime, but their defense collapsed in the second half as the Pacers scored 65 points on 23-41 (.561) field goal shooting. Brunson (19 points) and Bridges (17 points) were the two leading individual scorers in the second half, but Indiana's balanced and efficient attack carried the day as Siakam (16 points), Turner (14 points), and Haliburton (12 points) each scored in double figures in the second half.
The Pacers have won six straight road playoff games, including three versus the Eastern Conference's top seeded Cleveland Cavaliers; in contrast, the Knicks are just 3-5 at home in the 2025 playoffs, and they need to win at least one game in Indiana just to get a chance to add to that home win total.
Labels: Indiana Pacers, Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns, New York Knicks, Pascal Siakam, Tyrese Haliburton
posted by David Friedman @ 12:55 AM
2 Comments:
Marcel
Indiana deeper and got two all stars who are playing at a high level
They got players who can shoot, defend and drive to the basket about 8 of them
Ny Knicks got to get og and bridges going or they can't win this series
David off topic what's ur thoughts on Reggie Miller and him being a top 75 player
He only made 5 all stars and 3 all nba 3rd teams but he did score 26k and was a great playoff riser
I see people question and or same Lillard but never Reggie
I think he did belong but just interested on ur thoughts
Marcel:
Indiana and New York are evenly matched. The combined point totals after three games are almost identical.
I do not rank Miller as a top 76 player all-time (the NBA's 75th Anniversary Team had 76 players because of a tie in the voting):
"Reggie Miller hit some of the most iconic and oft-replayed shots of the past 30 years or so--and those replays are a big part of why he was selected. Miller is one of the best shooters in NBA history, but he was not exceptional in any other major skill set areas such as ballhandling, passing, rebounding, and defense. I saw Miller play in person many times, and I often arrived early to watch his pregame shooting routine. He always started close to the hoop and then worked his way back. He shot from every key area of the court. Miller was disciplined, focused, and meticulous. He squeezed every ounce out of his talent. I respect that. However, there is a reason that Miller looked so surprised during his TNT appearance last week when the studio crew told him that he had been selected to the 75th Anniversary Team: he knows that he does not belong on the list, as I discussed in my series of articles about the NBA's 50 Greatest Players:
'In a 1998 interview, Miller told Dan Patrick that there were only a few great players in the NBA, including Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Grant Hill and Shaquille O'Neal on that list. Miller included himself among some 'very good' players who are in a separate category underneath the great players. Patrick asked Miller why he was not great and Miller replied that he did not have the same athletic gifts and that he worked very hard just to establish himself as a very good player. That is a more objective assessment of Miller's ranking than one generally sees in the media. Miller was a great shooter, he was very durable--remarkably so, considering his slight frame--and he had some memorable playoff moments but there is no way he should be seriously considered for listing among the top 50 players of all-time.'
The interesting but seldom noted thing about Miller's famous clutch shots is that many of them happened in playoff series that his team eventually lost. Miller's career record in playoff series is 14-15, and that includes a 3-2 mark in his final two seasons when he was a role player and no longer the best player on the team. We so often see the image of Miller flashing the choke sign to Spike Lee, but Miller's Pacers went 3-3 in playoff series versus the New York Knicks, including 1-2 in the Eastern Conference Finals. Miller's Pacers went 1-5 overall in the Eastern Conference Finals."
Miller extracted the most from his talent and he is a Hall of Fame player, but he is not a top 76 player of all-time."
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