At the Buzzer: R2G4 — Pacers 121, Knicks 89
The Pacers held the Knicks to 33.7% shooting, outscored them by 20 in the first quarter led by as many as 43 in a Game 4 blowout win to even the series at 2-2. Game 5 is Tuesday.
Less than 36 hours after an emotional Game 3 win, the Pacers had a quick turnaround. But this was in their favor due to being at home, having depth and the edge in the war of attrition — what I mentioned in my post-Game 1 story.
It was fitting that on the day the NBA held its draft lottery in Chicago before the start of the matinee national game on ABC, the Pacers were not participants for the first time in four years. Instead, they were going through pre-game warmups to Game 4 of a second-round playoff game thanks to excellent trades that brought Tyrese Haliburton, Aaron Nesmith, Pascal Siakam and Obi Toppin to Indy.
Haliburton was on the injury report with three items and Nesmith was added, but of course both guys played.
And Happy Mother’s Day.
The game officials were Tony Brothers, Ben Taylor, Ed Malloy and Jacyn Goble (alternate)
The Knicks were without OG Anunoby (left hamstring strain), Julius Randle, Bojan Bogdanovic, Mitchell Robinson.
Watch my live postgame show in the media player below:
🏀How it happened: All season, we’ve been talking about the makeup of this team, its lack of maturity and how they’ve struggled in big moments against good teams. Very quickly into this one, the Pacers followed Myles Turner’s message: leave no doubt.
Haliburton got the 3-party started with two in the first 4:17, helping them race ahead 10-4. Then their lead kept growing … and growing … and growing. They were stringing together stops, like Turner swatting two shots and then the team forcing an 8-second violation. The team’s attitude and, to use Rick Carlisle’s word, disposition, was exactly where it needed to be in this one.
A team that typically didn’t perform well in first quarters did just the opposite, jumping out to a 34-14 advantage.
Then the Pacers got to 40 points before the Knicks even reached 20. They used an 11-0 run to further add to their lead — and everything was going their way. It wasn’t just shots going down, though. Remember how they talked about controlling what they can control after their Game 1 loss? That’s what they did here.
They were out-hustling, out-rebounding and imposing their will on a Knicks team that was known for doing just that themselves. The Pacers had their best defensive half in 10 postseason games and went into the locker room ahead 69-41.
Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau gave his team one more chance for a turnaround in the third quarter, then wisely surrendered after about eight minutes. With an already depleted roster playing on such a short turnaround, their best investment was in the next one — Game 5 in New York.
It was such a blowout that both teams finished it with their reserves — and for the Pacers that meant Doug McDermott, Kendall Brown, Jarace Walker, Jalen Smith, Isaiah Jackson. There were even chants of “We want James” for veteran James Johnson.
The Pacers’ recent history in nationally televised games is not good. Now they’ve corrected it this season, and this game was a perfect example. They previously were too often on the other end of a blowout.