NEW YORK — Jalen Brunson scored 44 points, reaching 40 points for the fifth time this postseason, and the New York Knicks defeated the Indiana Pacers 121-91 on Tuesday night for the first time since 2000. The victory propelled them to the Eastern Conference Finals. Five.
The Knicks bounced back from Sunday's blowout loss and committed to at least one more game at Madison Square Garden in front of fans eager to see another big game in late spring. Josh Hart had 18 points and 11 rebounds, and Miles McBride, who was added to the starting lineup, had 17 points.
The second-seeded Knicks have a chance to win the second round of the series on Friday night in Indianapolis after the first two days of the series. (Caitlin Clark's WNBA home debut with the Indiana Fever is scheduled for Thursday night at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
“We still need one more win, so I can't get too excited about it,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said. “We have to understand what we have to do and stay focused on the job at hand. If we get complacent we will lose in this league. We have to be prepared. There must be.”
Game 7, if necessary, would be played Sunday afternoon in New York.
Brunson hurt his right foot in Game 2 and was limited to a postseason-low 18 points in the Pacers' 121-89 rout of the Knicks on Sunday. He continued to insist he was fine – and that Tuesday he had no reason to doubt it.
From quickly pulling up for a 3-pointer off the dribble to setting up a soft jumper in the lane with a series of fakes and spins, Brunson made 18 of 35 from the field and once again finished fifth in this season's MVP rankings. He looked like a finished player. He's not voting for a player who made 10 of 26 in Game 3 and 6 of 17 on Sunday.
In Game 5, he scored 28 points in the first half, a Knicks playoff record, and in Game 4, he scored seven straight points to take the game away and made a three-point play with 7 minutes, 57 seconds left to make it 106-86.
Brunson, who scored 43 points in Game 1 and became just the fourth player in NBA history to score 40 points in four consecutive playoff games, got plenty of help Tuesday.
Alec Burks, who was completely out of the rotation until returning from a series of injuries, added 18 points off the bench, Isaiah Hartenstein had seven points and 17 rebounds, and the Knicks outscored the Pacers 53-29 on the glass. did.
“We were wiped out with loose balls and rebounds. We allowed 20 offensive rebounds and 29 shots, so it was all possessions,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. “But it's very embarrassing. It's very embarrassing and it's a tough lesson.”
Pascal Siakam scored 22 points for the sixth-seeded Pacers, who remain undefeated at home in the postseason and look to force a showdown. Myles Turner added 16 points, but All-Star Tyrese Haliburton, who averaged 29.7 points over the past three games, was held to just 13 points.
Indiana State got off to a strong start, leading 25-20, but the Knicks went on an 11-0 run to take the lead at half-time, taking a 38-32 lead after the first quarter. Pacers coach Rick Carlisle called three timeouts in the quarter, and each time the crowd seemed to get louder.
Branson made back-to-back baskets early in the second quarter to take a 13-point lead, then put in its first basket on a 9-0 run to make it 65-47 with 2:11 left.
The Knicks haven't advanced to the conference finals since 2000, when the Pacers defeated them for the sixth time in eight years. The game showed some of the intensity of the Knicks vs. Pacers of the 1990s, in a game that featured five technical fouls.
Indiana's Isaiah Jackson was called for a foul in the first half for a hard pick that knocked New York's Donte DiVincenzo to the floor. Hartenstein walked up to Jackson and chest-to-chest with him, and Burks also came in and raised his hand and appeared to make contact with Jackson. All three players were called for technical fouls.
Later, after DiVincenzo slammed Brunson's missed jumper, Brunson and Turner got tangled up as DiVincenzo tried to fight the pick. Both men screamed after the foul was called, and both stood up as the crowd chanted DiVincenzo's name while the referee reviewed the play.
