INDIANAPOLIS — It occurred once more. One other sluggish begin to the second half. One other gap the Knicks needed to dig themselves out of, this time with the sport, the sequence, an opportunity on the franchise’s first NBA Finals look since 1999 on the road.
The Knicks, as they typically do, performed an imperfect first half to their win-or-go-home Recreation 6 on the Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Saturday. They out-rebounded the Pacers by 10 and acquired a monster opening half from OG Anunoby, however additionally they turned the ball over almost twice as many instances because the staff that runs sooner than anybody else within the league and did not mark Pascal Siakam in transition, permitting the participant who has cherry-picked all sequence lengthy to run unchecked off makes and misses within the greatest sport of the sequence.
And but by some means, regardless of a middling opening two quarters, the Knicks discovered themselves down simply 4 on the half. A sufficiently small deficit to persuade a staff that has but to play an ideal sport all season that an ideal second half of basketball may proper their wrongs to power a Recreation 7 again at Madison Sq. Backyard.
It was wishful pondering. As a result of unhealthy habits generally tend to rear their ugly heads on the most inopportune moments. And a Knicks staff that has constructed a status as being one of the crucial resilient bunches in all of basketball — a Knicks staff that erased not one, not two, however three 20-point deficits this post-season alone, didn’t have the magic of their remaining sport of the season.
As a substitute they fell asleep originally of the second half. That four-point deficit? It turned 10 factors in lower than two minutes. It turned 15 factors quickly after, and after a 55-second Knicks run lower the Pacer lead down simply eight, Indiana as soon as once more did what it did finest: push the ball in transition, flip the Knicks over, discover open three-point shooters and reside with the outcomes.
The Pacers hit seven threes within the third quarter alone. They turned 18 Knicks turnovers into 34 factors. They stayed true to their id in opposition to a staff that had an id disaster mid-series, making a beginning lineup probability and increasing the rotation after falling into an 0-2 gap.
And now, the identical Pacers the world thought would possibly wrestle in opposition to the Milwaukee Bucks within the first spherical, won’t have a shot in opposition to the No. 1-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers within the second spherical, and couldn’t probably overcome a stacked Knicks beginning 5 within the convention finals? These Pacers are headed to the NBA Finals.
And the Knicks are headed to Cancun. It’s a later-than-expected journey for a staff that made its first Convention Finals look in 25 years, a staff that dethroned the reigning champion Boston Celtics within the second spherical lengthy earlier than Jayson Tatum’s season ended on a ruptured Achilles tendon in Recreation 4. A staff that out-muscled the Detroit Pistons within the first spherical.
There’s a lot to be happy with with these Knicks. In lots of respects, they had been by no means alleged to be right here within the first place.
And but — there’s at all times a “yet” — these Knicks had been constructed to one-up themselves. And whereas they did so in principle, by making the convention finals after back-to-back second-round exits, the information stay: They traded 5 draft picks for Mikal Bridges, dealt Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo for Karl-Anthony Cities, and re-signed OG Anunoby to a franchise-record $212.5 million deal, solely to lose to the exact same Indiana Pacers staff who eradicated a much more injury-stricken Knicks roster in seven video games final season.
And so they by no means put it collectively over the course of an 82-game season. The identical points that plagued them all year long had been their undoing within the Pacers’ closeout sport. The Knicks couldn’t play good basketball till their backs had been in opposition to the wall.
This time, their backs had been in opposition to the all, and the Pacers gave them nowhere to go.
So what now for these New York Knicks? They’re title contenders. There’s little question about that. However with Cities on the hook for north of $50 million yearly, Jalen Brunson and Anunoby every set to earn greater than $30 million a yr, and Bridges on the hook for a contract extension, including depth across the present core with their wage cap actuality would require Olympic-level wage cap gymnastics.
Possibly they don’t want rather more. Possibly they simply want extra time. As a result of extra time is what acquired the Celtics and Pacers to the NBA Finals.
“You can’t really get experience without getting experience. It’s helped out a lot. It brought us together,” stated Brunson. “I think for the most part, we see a lot, we hear a lot, but we make sure we’re on the same page together. So regardless of what anyone else says, we’ve got each other’s back.”
Time, in fact, may be subjective, particularly in New York, the place a minute strikes a mile an hour. The place yesterday’s value shouldn’t be at the moment’s value. The place something can change within the blink of an eye fixed irrespective of how shut you might be to creating historical past.
Initially Printed: Might 31, 2025 at 10:44 PM EDT
