There was no historic comeback in Sport 2 of the Japanese Convention Finals.
There have been no livid 3-point barrages or bouncing, buzzer-beating photographs.
However the Knicks fell flat within the fourth quarter as soon as once more. And now their season is in critical jeopardy.
The Knicks didn’t sustain with the Indiana Pacers down the stretch of their 114-109 loss at Madison Sq. Backyard on Friday evening, placing them in a 2-0 gap within the best-of-seven collection.
“We just have to finish games,” Knicks ahead Mikal Bridges stated. “That’s pretty much it.”
Two days after they suffered one of the crucial dramatic collapses in playoff historical past, the Knicks entered Friday’s fourth quarter with the rating tied 81-81.
However a collection of defensive lapses doomed the Knicks once more.
Confusion on one sequence led to a wide-open dunk for Myles Turner, who completed by way of a foul by Mitchell Robinson for a three-point play that gave Indiana an 86-83 lead.
Two possessions later, Ben Sheppard was left open for a 3-pointer, which put the Pacers up by six.
Pascal Siakam’s 3-pointer the subsequent time down the ground capped a rapid-fire 13-4 run for Indiana, which made its first 5 photographs of the quarter — all with star level guard Tyrese Haliburton on the bench.
Siakam completed with 39 factors on 15-of-23 capturing.
“The rotations weren’t there,” Knicks level guard Jalen Brunson stated. “There are things we need to obviously help each other out with when it comes to defensive rotations, and they weren’t there.”
It was a very robust evening for Karl-Anthony Cities, whose plus/minus of -20 was the worst amongst any participant.
Cities shot 6-of-14 for 20 factors and struggled defensively. He spent greater than six minutes of the fourth quarter on the bench.
“It’s tough to lose any way,” Cities stated of his extended fourth-quarter absence. “We’ve just got to regroup together for the next one.”
Brunson led the Knicks with 36 factors on 13-of-27 capturing and 11 assists. He practically willed the Knicks again with a 3-pointer and a floater on back-to-back possessions, reducing the deficit to 110-107 with 1:06 left within the fourth.
With the rating the identical on the subsequent possession, Brunson sought a 3-pointer however finally discovered Josh Hart for an open lay-up with 14.2 seconds to go, making it a one-point recreation.
However Brunson fouled Aaron Nesmith on the following inbound, and Nesmith made each free throws. After a missed 3-pointer by Brunson, Turner made two extra free throws to ice the sport.
“We had a chance to tie the ballgame, so it’s a hard-fought game,” head coach Tom Thibodeau stated. “Both games came down to the last play.”
For the second recreation in a row, the Pacers punched first, leaping out to a 19-9 lead. Siakam scored Indiana’s first 11 factors and had 23 at halftime.
Siakam lifted Indiana on an evening Haliburton shot simply 5-of-16 and had two factors at halftime. Haliburton completed with 14 factors, eight rebounds and 11 assists.
The collection has been a far cry from the earlier two, when the Knicks emerged because the kings of the comeback.
The Pacers, behind an unrelenting uptempo assault and superior depth, have gained the third and fourth quarters in each video games, in addition to additional time in Sport 1. With 5:24 left within the fourth quarter of Friday’s recreation, Brunson was gradual to stand up, then stood along with his arms on his knees as Robinson stepped to the free-throw line.
Friday’s end was not as gorgeous as Sport 1’s, when the Pacers erased a 17-point deficit with 6:26 left in regulation and a nine-point deficit with beneath a minute to go.
Nesmith made six 3-pointers in that fourth quarter, organising a game-tying shot by Haliburton that clanked off the again of the rim, hung within the air, then fell by way of the online as time expired. The Knicks misplaced 138-135 in additional time.
However the Sport 2 loss was simply as consequential.
Since 1956, groups that misplaced the primary two video games of a playoff collection at dwelling have superior solely 7.3% of the time. With the Knicks searching for their first journey to the NBA Finals since 1999, they must pull off historical past to finish the drought.
The collection now shifts to Indiana, the place Sport 3 is about for Sunday evening.
“We’re in the conference finals,” Brunson stated. “Nothing else matters right now. We have a game every other day. We’re playing in a very high-stakes moment. The mental focus, everything, has to be there. There is no question about it.”
Initially Printed: Could 23, 2025 at 10:47 PM EDT
