NEW YORK — There was huge anticipation Sunday in the build-up to the historic Madison Square Garden game. It happened exactly as no one would have expected.
Impossibly and unexpectedly in a road Game 7 situation, the Indiana Pacers produced one of the best shooting halves in the NBA’s 77-year history. When a stunned New York Knicks tried to mount a strong second-half comeback, the Pacers’ superstar and his super-sub stepped up and delivered the finishing blow.
The result was a 130–109 Pacers victory, eliminating the Knicks after falling 2–0 in the series to four wins in five games. The Pacers travel to Boston to open the Eastern Conference Finals against the Celtics on Tuesday.
“Well, we’re uninvited guests,” coach Rick Carlisle said after the Pacers won their second consecutive series over a higher seed. “We’re here. When you win Game 7 at Madison Square Garden, you’ve made history. It’s very, very difficult to do that.”
The Pacers shot 67.1% overall, the highest field goal percentage for a playoff game in NBA history. And that’s when they calmed down in the second half.
Sadly for the Knicks, what happened to them in the series was compounded by the fact that star guard Jalen Brunson suffered a fractured left hand during the third quarter. When his father, Knicks assistant coach Rick Brunson, returned to the bench after receiving the news in the locker room, he could only hold his head in his hands.
It was already a tough day for Brunson, who made just 6 of 17 shots and scored 17 points before being fouled.
“It’s part of the game and like I said, in this group, we made no excuses for anything,” Brunson said. “And so if things happen, we just move forward with what we had. Obviously we wanted everyone to stay healthy.”
Pacers All-Star Tyrese Haliburton, who had two slow and ineffective games in New York earlier in the series, drilled four 3-pointers in the first quarter alone Sunday, giving his team momentum and unwavering confidence.
After each 3, Haliburton yelled at anyone who caught his eye, whether it was fans, Knicks players (especially Donte DiVincenzo) or even into the ether. Each time, the Pacers looked more relaxed, and most importantly, could create their own pressure that had plagued the Knicks throughout the series.
“That’s the game within the game, that’s the fun in this atmosphere,” said Haliburton, who left the building wearing a hoodie emblazoned with the famous Reggie Miller choke photo. “I knew today was Game 7; take the clip off, no regrets. I would hate to be angry all summer for not shooting the ball today. So for me, it was about coming out playing the right way.”
Haliburton scored 27 points by making 10 of 17 shots.
The Pacers will again be heavy underdogs in their next series against Boston; the Celtics started as -1400 favorites on ESPN BET, while Indiana was installed as a +750 underdog.
The atmosphere was explosive in the first Game 7 at the Garden since 1995. It grew more intense when Knicks forward OG Anunoby emerged from the locker room tunnel for pregame warmups after he returned earlier than expected from a right hamstring injury. But it was immediately clear that allowing him to play was a questionable decision.
Anunoby was barely able to run, and the Pacers took notice. He attacked immediately, passing to Pascal Siakam for an easy basket on the opening possession and scoring four hoops on Anunoby in a matter of minutes.
“I was going to check on him,” Siakam said of his former Toronto Raptors teammate. “I thought he didn’t look healthy out there … I just wanted to make sure he was OK, but it was Game 7.”
Anunoby thrilled the crowd by making two long jumpers in the first three minutes of the game, while Knicks fans were screaming for a Willis Reed moment, but the Knicks couldn’t afford to let him stay on the court.
“I mean it was really an imitation of Willis Reed … the guy came in and hit two terrible shots,” Carlisle said. “Those shots were a lot tougher than the shots Willis hit on the drop or with (Wilt) Chamberlain in the zone.”
But Anunoby fouled out with less than five minutes to go, and the Pacers lost all their nerve. Their offensive players stepped into jumpers with ease and made shots from everywhere from every angle. Siakam scored 15 of his 20 points in the first half, Haliburton had 16 and Myles Turner had 10 of his 17. The Pacers shot an incredible 76.3% in the opening 24 minutes (29-of-38) and 66.7% from 3-point range (8-of-12). They made 20 of 25 jumpers. They missed as many shots in the paint as from beyond the arc.
It was the best shooting half in a playoff game on record, surpassing the 74% shot by the San Antonio Spurs during the 2014 NBA Finals, a performance that led some to think it was the best of offensive basketball. It was the best performance ever. And the Pacers beat it.
The Knicks took the lead in the third quarter, largely thanks to a series of 3-pointers from DiVincenzo (37 points). He finished with nine treys for the game, setting a Knicks playoff record. Those 3s and some rare defensive stops cut the Pacers’ lead from 22 points to seven and left Knicks fans thinking they might finally be seeing something worth remembering.
That’s when Carlisle sent in valuable reserve guard TJ McConnell, who immediately calmed the Pacers and started the game. McConnell helped force three Knicks turnovers, dished out two assists and added two baskets. He was the catalyst in a 15–4 run that reestablished the Pacers’ control of the game.
Alex Burks came off the bench and scored 26 points for the Knicks. Josh Hart, who was playing despite an abdominal strain, was given a standing ovation after fouling out in the fourth quarter with 10 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists.
Before Anunoby, Hart and Brunson impressed, the Pacers no doubt benefited from injuries to Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard in the first-round series. But the sixth-seeded and depleted Pacers left New York without an apology and with no intention of staying.
