NEW YORK – The Knicks are back in control.
After being completely outplayed on the road in one game, they returned to Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night and delivered another inspiring — and distinctive — performance to defeat the Indiana Pacers 121-91 in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals.
The Knicks took a 3-2 lead in the series with the win.
They will attempt to sweep the series with a win in Game 6 on Friday night at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
“That’s who they are,” coach Tom Thibodeau said. “We still need one more win. So we can’t get too excited about it. We have to understand what we need to do: stay focused on the task at hand. Feeling good about yourself, you go into this Lose in the league.” You have to be ready to go.”
Thibodeau’s team was again without OG Anunoby for the third straight game as he dealt with a hamstring injury in Game 2, but Jalen Brunson looked very much in his usual form with his latest sterling postseason performance.
The Knicks crushed the Pacers on the boards, defeating them 53-29, including 20 on the offensive glass.
Isaiah Hartenstein finished with 17 boards of his own.
The Knicks finished with 26 second-chance points.
“It was a big time,” Brunson said. “They played really well at Indiana and got us on our feet. We needed to respond. Just doing what we do and sticking to our guys and core principles. Just doing what we do.” And we’re sticking to our core principles. Just doing the things that help us succeed.”
The Knicks had a very poor performance in Game 4, which ended with a 32-point Pacers victory that tied the series at two games apiece.
They got off to a much better start Tuesday night – despite a seven-point deficit in the first period, they recovered and were up 38-32 by the end of the opening period.
The first half ended with the Knicks taking a commanding 15-point lead.
They went on a 17-0 run in the third quarter to take a 25-point lead.
After that the game was not in doubt.
The Knicks played with more energy, hitting shots from the start and playing well on the defensive end.
They looked more like the Knicks, riding on the energy of the Garden crowd.
takeaway
Jalen Brunson returns to form
This was the biggest development of the night for the Knicks.
away from.
Already shorthanded, the Knicks can’t afford to have Brunson out, but that was the case the last two games as he continued to battle a foot injury suffered in Game 2.
In both games in Indianapolis, Brunson did not have the same explosiveness or enthusiasm. Many, if not all, of his jumpshots were short.
Brunson was no closer to 100 percent, though he said he was fine.
Despite this, he looked very much like himself in Game 5.
Brunson finished with 44 points on 18 of 35 shooting, 2 of 6 from long range, along with four rebounds and seven assists.
He scored 28 points in 22 minutes of the first half.
It was Brunson’s fifth 40-plus point game in the postseason, second most in a single postseason in team history (Bernard King had six in 1984).
“Even in tonight’s game, I think he was averaging 30 points against Indiana,” Thibodeau said. “Everyone, we’ve all come to expect him to be super-human every night. And he’s an incredible player. He’s loaded every night. He’s the focal point of everyone’s game plan. And sometimes it’s missing shots. and they can be good shots and so I think we all forget that and the thing I like about his approach is he’s never mad, he’s Come in like a machine, that’s what he does, do it, he’ll be ready for the next game.”
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Lineup Changes
Thibodeau deployed a new look starting at five, incorporating Miles McBride and moving forward with a smaller lineup.
“The second half of the last game — we’d done it a few times during the regular season, so we thought that would give us our best chance,” Thibodeau said.
This step was good. McBride was solid offensively, finishing with 17 points on 7-of-15 shooting in 40 minutes, including 3-of-7 from three-point range. Twelve of his points came in the first half.
McBride later hit a big three-pointer in the opening minutes of the second half that put the Knicks up by 13 after Indiana cut the deficit to double digits.
McBride also played very well on the defensive end.
“He was great,” Brunson said. “He was fantastic. He brought energy right from the start. That’s what he does.”
Knicks Limited Tyrese Haliburton
Haliburton had a tough Game 1 and scored just six points, but in the following three contests he averaged 29.7 points and shot 55.0 percent.
But the Knicks did a good job of limiting the Pacers’ star guard on Tuesday night and not letting him get into any kind of rhythm.
McBride, in particular, did a good job guarding him.
Haliburton finished with 13 points on 5-9 shooting in 34 minutes.
