Nixed in 6: Pacers Force Knicks into First Game 7 Since 2000
New York Knicks fans have 24 years to return to the Eastern Conference Finals. Forty-eight hours should ... potentially ... be nothing.
Friday night's sixth game of the Eastern Conference Semifinals proved painful on both an emotional and literal level for the New York Knicks, who dropped a 116-103 decision to the Indiana Pacers at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Pascal Siakam led the victorious hosts with 25 points while Myles Turner had 17 with eight rebounds. Tyrese Haliburton fell just short of a triple-double with 15 points, nine assists, and six boards.
The defeat sets up a winner-take-all Game 7 at Madison Square Garden on Sunday afternoon (3:30 p.m. ET, ABC). Time will tell if the Knicks will have to work through it without the services of Josh Hart, who was officially ruled out of late second half action abdominal soreness.
Jalen Brunson's torrid second half after an ugly first (2-of-13, missing his final 11) went for naught as six different Pacers reached double-figures. Indiana embarked on a 17-6 run over the final six-plus minutes of the second period and never looked back, setting the stage for a potentially thrilling final with a trip to Boston on the line.
The Knicks will be happy to finally escape from the clutches of Gainbridge Fieldhouse: Indiana has now won 11 in a row in its home arena, successfully defending its hardwood by playing its most physically dominant game of the series, which snuffed out any comeback attempt the Knicks had in their bones.
New York's most valiant rally came at the onset of the second half: with Hart's midsection adorned in medical tape, the Knicks quickly sliced a 10-point deficit in half with a Brunson free-throw and jumper before Miles McBride hit a driving layup. That forced an Indiana timeout just 38 seconds into the third period, which apparently proved inspiring enough to get consecutive threes from Haliburton and Andrew Nembhard.
Brunson hit another double but consecutive dunks from Turner simultaneously sent Indianapolis into a frenzy and created a 10-plus-point lead that proved permanent. Head coach Tom Thibodeau and Co. more or less admitted defeat when Hart was forced to the locker room for good, pulling his starters as Indiana inflated its lead to as high as 23.
Bullied off the boards in Game 5 (where the Knicks held a plus-24 advantage in rebounding en route to a 30-point win), Indiana recovered well enough to outrebound the Knicks by a dozen, its worst margin of the postseason. The Knicks are now 4-18 when they're on the wrong end of the rebounding struggle, including 0-5 in this ongoing playoff run. The 35 rebounds the Knicks brought in (led by eight each for Hart and Precious Achiuwa) were also the second-lowest tally they've had all playoffs, ahead of only 32 in the Game 3 loss to Philadelphia in round one.
The Knicks have had a spotty history in Game 7, posting a 7-8 record in the hallowed yet horrifying concept, including 1-1 against the Pacers. Indiana served as the opponent in the last Game 7 at MSG, taking down the Knicks in 1995's second round one year after the Knicks clinched an NBA Finals berth in similar fashion.
GEOFF MAGLIOCCHETTI
Editor-In-Chief at All Knicks