The Knicks had few solutions for Pascal Siakam.
That a lot turned more and more clear because the Indiana Pacers energy ahead scored basket after basket within the Jap Convention Finals, culminating in a 31-point efficiency within the Sport 6 win that ended the Knicks’ season.
Siakam was named Jap Convention Finals MVP after averaging 24.8 factors per sport on 52.4% capturing, together with 50.0% from 3-point vary.
“His ability to run the floor, his ability to play in the paint, his ability to face the basket, to put it on the floor, he’s a tough cover,” Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau stated after Saturday’s 125-108 loss at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
“Sometimes, you can play him well, and because of his size and his release he can still get a shot up. And it’s always a good shot.”
Certainly, Siakam beat the Knicks in a wide range of other ways.
On 4 separate events in Sport 6, a surging Siakam beat the Knicks down the courtroom for a lay-up or dunk. A kind of dunks got here 5 seconds after Mikal Bridges made a shot on the opposite finish.
Siakam was equally lethal on the run in Sport 2, when he exploded for 39 factors on 15-of-23 capturing.
However he additionally made powerful turnaround jumpers over OG Anunoby on a number of possessions in that Pacers win and hit stepbacks over Mikal Bridges and Karl-Anthony Cities, too.
“He hit some tough shots,” Cities stated after Sport 6. “He did an ideal job of pushing his tempo and making us have to protect him, and never in a half-court set.
“[Pacers head coach] Rick Carlisle and the team had a game plan to keep it going. Obviously, we did our best to minimize the damage he could do in this series and this game. But sometimes great players can be great players.”
Siakam scored no less than 30 factors in three video games within the collection, and Indiana gained all three.
He shot no less than 50% from the sector in 4 video games and made three 3-pointers in three of them.
Siakam completed the collection 10-of-24 (41.7%) when guarded by Anunoby, his major defender, however shot 5-of-10 from 3-point vary in that matchup, in line with the NBA’s head-to-head monitoring.
He shot 13-of-19 (68.4%) towards Bridges, 10-of-19 (52.6%) towards Josh Hart, and 11-of-28 (39.3%) towards Cities.
“It’s been a crazy journey,” Siakam, 30, stated after Sport 6. “A lot of ups and downs. I know I’m not the guy everyone’s gonna talk about a lot and all that stuff, and I really don’t care about it. I’m just a young kid from Cameroon that moved to the U.S. when he was 18 years old and gave everything to the game of basketball.”
The Pacers acquired Siakam in a January 2024 commerce with the Toronto Raptors for a package deal that included three first-round picks. That deal occurred lower than three weeks after the Knicks made a commerce with Toronto to accumulate Anunoby, who stays shut with Siakam.
In Siakam, the Pacers added a two-time All-Star with championship pedigree — he gained the NBA Finals with the Raptors in 2019 — to an ascendent younger roster.
Buying and selling for Siakam “took things to another level,” Carlisle stated Saturday.
“When we brought him here, we envisioned doing something like this,” added level guard Tyrese Haliburton.
Siakam helped take the Pacers to the Jap Convention Finals final 12 months, then signed a four-year, $189.5 million extension. He led Indiana with 20.2 factors per sport within the common season.
After failing to shut out the Knicks in Sport 5, the Pacers led by solely 4 factors at halftime on Saturday.
However Siakam took over within the third quarter, making a 3-pointer on Indiana’s opening possession and including a three-point play lower than two minutes later to gasoline a 9-0 run.
That run kicked off 1 / 4 wherein the Pacers outscored the Knicks 34-23 and pulled away for good.
“When you have someone who’s actually been in the trenches, who has actually felt what it feels like, it’s so underrated, just the emotions this time of the year,” Pacers middle Myles Turner stated of Siakam. “You don’t sleep. You lose hair. It’s just what it is. You can’t explain that if you’ve never been here before.”
Haliburton, 25, has additionally leaned on Siakam’s expertise, saying the veteran is “like a big brother.”
Siakam gained Jap Convention Finals MVP over Haliburton, receiving 5 votes to the purpose guard’s 4.
“Hat’s off to him,” Thibodeau stated of Siakam. “He had a big-time series.”
