Knicks down to final chance after Pacers’ Game 6 rout
INDIANAPOLIS — It’s all on Game 7.
With a chance to clinch the franchise’s first conference final in 24 years, the Knicks laid an egg in Friday night’s 116-103 Game 6 defeat, getting little from their star point guard until it was too late and the Pacers were well on their way to extending their season.
It set up the do-or-die Game 7 on Sunday afternoon at MSG, the biggest game for the Knicks since Patrick Ewing wore their uniform.
And they’re going to need much better from Jalen Brunson.
“They adjusted. They tried to make things difficult. And I have to adjust as well,” Brunson said. “They showed me different looks and I have to do a better job of reading it. I just can’t be what I was for the first 40 minutes of the game.”
The All-Star shot just 11-for-26 after one of the worst first halves of his Knicks career, unable to crack Indiana’s relentless pressure before pouring on late points and finishing with 31.
The Pacers, who now own an 11-game winning streak at home, made it their defensive priorities 1, 2 and 3 to stop Brunson.
When he dribbled in the backcourt, they pestered.
When he dribbled left in the halfcourt, they swarmed. Right? Flooded.
In the paint? Double-teaming was automatic, with an option to triple-team.
The scheme worked — especially in the first half — but also Brunson didn’t do himself any favors.
He attacked despite the constant pressure, forcing the issue.
The shots were often short and the decision-making flawed.
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That first half was nasty and included 11 straight missed field goals for Brunson, the longest of his career.
“Offensively we were kind of stagnant where they were able to load up on Jalen,” Isaiah Hartenstein said. “We’ve got to do a better job of making Jalen’s life easier. He was guarded by three guys most of the possessions. They were loading up.”
The Knicks, as a result, trailed by 10 at the break and never recovered.
They were down by as many as 23 in the fourth quarter, a scene reminiscent, though not quite as lopsided, as the Mother’s Day Massacre five days prior in Indy.
It certainly didn’t help that Josh Hart, the glue who sticks everything Knicks together, suffered an abdomen-area injury after getting hit in the midsection early and gave a diminished effort over 31 minutes.
Without Hart cleaning up messes like normal, the Pacers utterly dominated the paint.
They won the rebounding, 47-35, and the battle for points in the paint, 62-38.
Hart was eventually ruled out of the game in the fourth quarter with “abdomen soreness,” the Knicks announced.
He walked outside of the locker room in clear pain, joining the team’s long infirmary line, and his status for Game 7 is unknown.
Still, Brunson had little doubt about his former college teammate’s status for Sunday.
“I assume he’s going to play,” Brunson said. “It’s Game 7.”
For Brunson, the start of Game 6 was a continuation of his disappointing performance in the previous game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Mother’s Day, when he was clearly hampered by a sore foot and unloaded a Game 4 dud.
There weren’t obvious excuses for Brunson’s Game 6 clunker, beyond the defensive adjustments from the Pacers.
The Knicks had two days off between games, ample rest after they physically dominated Game 5 at home.
Asked if the rest would help, Hart said, “I wouldn’t say it’s a relief but it’s two-fold. Obviously rest, and get your body right. On the other side we had a pretty dominant Game 5, and they probably got hammered with questions about physicality, energy and rebounding. That’s all they heard for the last 2 ¹/₂ days. So they are going to come out with a renewed sense of energy and physicality.”
The Pacers certainly followed through. Hart, meanwhile, was injured.
When the forward first appeared to suffer from discomfort in his abdomen area and went to the bench in the first quarter, Tom Thibodeau quickly dismissed any concern.
“He’s a tough guy,” the coach said, “he’ll get through it.”
Ultimately, Hart didn’t get through it.
He left for the locker room before the fourth quarter and never returned.
By that time, the Knicks had already lost.
Pascal Siakam led their scoring with 25 points, punishing the Knicks with his size.
The Pacers shot 54 percent overall.
Their bench, led by Obi Toppin and T.J. McConnell, combined for 36 points.
The Knicks’ defense was poor. Now they have to rebound in Game 7 or go on vacation.
It’s the first Game 7 at MSG since 1995.
“It’s definitely something we fought for, to have home-court advantage for as long as we can throughout the playoffs,” Brunson said. “But it’s not a given we win just because it’s at home. We have to go out there and play. They’re going to be ready and we’re going to be ready as well.”
