The Indiana Pacers are leaving New York with more than just a pair of road wins. They now hold a stranglehold on the Eastern Conference finals.
Pascal Siakam erupted for a playoff career-high 39 points and helped close out a 114-109 victory over the Knicks on Friday night at Madison Square Garden, giving the Pacers a 2-0 lead as the best-of-seven-games series shifts to Indianapolis for Game 3. It was another ruthless closing performance by an Indiana team that has now taken back-to-back games from the Knicks on their home floor.
Siakam’s brilliance was complemented by 16 points from Myles Turner and a near triple-double from Tyrese Haliburton, who stuffed the box score with 14 points, 11 assists and eight rebounds. Indiana, now halfway to just their second trip to the NBA finals, depart New York in firm control.
Game 3 is Sunday in Indiana, though the Pacers might prefer to keep playing in Manhattan. They’ve now won six straight playoff road games dating back to a first-round loss in Milwaukee.
“I just came out aggressive at the end of the day, we’re a team, you know, it doesn’t matter who scores, that’s what I love so much about this team,” said Siakam, the ninth-year power forward from Cameroon who’d scored 17 points in Game 1. “I got to go in early, the guys did a good job finding me, and again, another night is going to be somebody else, you know, that’s what makes us special.
A back-and-forth contest with 17 lead changes through the first three quarters was tied 81-81 heading into the fourth when the Pacers opened the final frame on a 13-4 run with Knicks star Jalen Brunson on the bench. They seized momentum for good after Siakam’s three-pointer with 9:17 remaining made it 94-85 and never trailed again.
By the time Haliburton found Siakam in acres of space for an easy layup that made it 110-100 with 2:45 left, the result seemed all but a handshake away. New York rattled off nine unanswered points during a furious rally and cut the deficit to 112-109 in the final seconds, but Brunson’s contested 29-footer to tie caromed off the back of the rim. Indiana’s Myles Turner secured the rebound and iced the game at the line, bringing the rollicking sellout crowd of 19,812 to heel.
It marked the second straight fourth-quarter fade by the Knicks, who also blew a 14-point lead with under three minutes left in Game 1. While Friday’s loss wasn’t quite as historic, it was every bit as devastating. “We had a chance to tie the ballgame,” New York coach Tom Thibodeau said. “It was a hard-fought game. Both games came down to the last play.”
Brunson led the Knicks with 36 points and 11 assists, a heroic effort that wasn’t quite enough. Karl-Anthony Towns added 24 points and 10 rebounds while Josh Hart chipped in 15 points and 11 boards. But the Knicks shot just 11-of-32 from deep and once again struggled with turnovers and defensive communication at key moments, allwoing the Pacers far too many wide-open looks.
Haliburton followed up his Game 1 heroics with a more subdued but effective night. Turner added 16 points, including 13 on 4-of-6 shooting in the fourth, and held his own defensively against Towns.
For Indiana, it was another showcase of their poise and versatility. Their bench outscored New York’s 24-11, and they outshot the Knicks 52% to 45% from the field.
No team has lost the first two games on their home floor in a conference finals and come back to win the series. Indiana are bidding for a second NBA finals appearance in their 58-year history and first since 2000, when they bowed to the Los Angeles Lakers in six games.
As for the Knicks, the questions are piling up. They’ve now dropped consecutive games at home for the first time all playoffs. Their late-game execution, so often a strength under Thibodeau, has deserted them. And their margin for error is all but spent as they now face the daunting task of flipping their first conference finals appearance in 25 years on the road against one of the NBA’s hottest teams.
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