Knicks 111, Pacers 94: “Still alive”

In a wire-to-wire win, the stars and Shamet shut down Haliburton and the Hoosiers.

The New York Knicks came out swinging in Game Five of the ECF, with Jalen Brunson leading an early surge that set the tone for a dominant first half. New York’s bench—anchored by a tough Karl-Anthony Towns and an inspired Landry Shamet—stretched the lead to 14 by halftime. Behind a balanced second-half attack and stifling defense, the Knicks pushed their lead as high as 22, overcame a minor fourth-quarter scare, and cruised to a wire-to-wire win at MSG, 111-94.

New York delivered their best defensive performance of the postseason. Mikal Bridges seemed to have a hand on Haliburton all night, and it showed: Tyrese finished with eight points, six assists, a -23, and managed just seven shots in 32 minutes.

The Knicks outshot, outmuscled, and outpaced the Pacers, shooting 49% from the field and scoring 60 points in the paint to Indiana’s 34. Despite hitting fewer threes and missing their free throws, New York controlled the glass with a 45–40 rebounding edge (including 11 offensive boards) and forced the Pacers into 19 turnovers.

Quoth funkin: “still alive.” Yes, they is! Brunson scored the most (32 points), while Karl-Anthony Towns somehow played 36 minutes on one good leg and logged a 24-point, 13-rebound double-double. The wings played great, and Josh Hart secured his own 12-point, 10-board double-double. At the end of the game, though, the crowd was chanting for Landry Shamet, whose five point, one steal, and one rebound statline might look insignificant, but his gritty play was key to keeping Indiana in check at pivotal moments tonight.

For Indiana, Bennedict Mathurin scored 23 points, partially due to nine free throws. Pascal Siakam contributed 15.

Now down 3-2, the Knicks head back to Indianapolis looking to tie up the series and keep their championship dreams alive. Here’s how tonight went down.

First Half

Hell-bent to slap an early collar on the Pacers, Jalen Brunson recorded the first six points and assisted on a Robinson dunk for an 8-3 lead. Indy fought back, but New York responded with an 11-2 run, aided by Brunson’s 14 first-quarter points. Don’t get too excited, fanatics: yet again, our heroes didn’t close a quarter strong. With a 10-2 stretch, the villains trimmed the score to 27-23 by the buzzer.

The second quarter saw substitutions of Delon Wright, Miles McBride, and Landry Shamet for Brunson, Bridges, and Anunoby. Sure, this quirky lineup had some rocky moments, but overall, they held their own with Towns at the helm.

ShamWow with a big triple!

ShamWow with big defense! Landry was a +10 in his first nine minutes.

Karl-Anthony, a game-time decision due to a knee contusion, fought bravely through visible pain. Our gimpy star crashed the cup repeatedly, fought valiantly on the glass, and led this ragtag squad on a 12-2 run. By the time the starters returned to the fray, New York had achieved a 14-point lead, their biggest yet.

At halftime, despite seven turnovers, the Knicks held a commanding 56-45 lead, to the delight of the glory-starved MSG crowd. The home team had outshot the visitors 51% to 38% from the field and limited the speedsters to seven fast break points. New York dominated inside with +18 points in the paint and +7 on the boards and visited the line just five times (compared to 11 freebies for Indy). Through two quarters, Towns led all scorers with a 17-10 double-double, while Pascal Siakam topped the Hicks with nine points. None of Siakam’s team had double-digit anything yet—not points, rebounds, or assists.

Second Half

Our jockeys were tight as New York came out of intermission. Would they start strong, or sleepwalk and blow it, as they do occasionally? Rejoice, fanatics! Brunson scored eight as the ‘Bockers bolted from the gates on a 10-5 run. Robinson played brilliantly during that stretch (besides turning over an inbound pass) with big offensive rebounds, hectoring defense, a tip-in, and this swat-down of Haliburton.

The Pacers defense smothered Brunson, who kept dribbling into traffic and regretting it. But when Indiana’s Tony Bradley limped to the locker room, a defensive rebound became a KAT slam, and a Robinson steal became two Anunoby free throws, New York took a 20-point lead midway through the third.

The visitors went bucket-less for five minutes, but their free throws and sloppy Knicks’ play chipped the lead to 12. Carlisle initiated the Hack-a-Mitch strategy with four-ish minutes left. Robinson missed both freebies, Bennedict Mathurin made two freebies, and the lead reached 10.

Indy applied full-court pressure, but the Knicks eluded them. With a Ben Sheppard offensive foul, five more points from Jalen Brunson, a crafty, contested middie by Bridges, a Hart defensive board became a Precious Achiuwa (yes, him!) driving layup, and a McBride jumper stretched New York’s advantage to 22.

Mathurin benefited many, many generous whistles, and Sheppard drilled a trey to mount a 9-4 run to close the quarter. Knicks up 90-73 heading into the fourth.

The first score of the final frame? A 22-foot two-pointer by Shamet. A few minutes later, it was Landry again guarding the hell out of Theresa Julianna McConnell on the baseline to force the hickiest Hoosier into dribbling out of bounds.

The Pacers score in a hurry, though. Thanks to another Josh Hart mind-boggling turnover, a few New York misses, and a 9-1 run, the Hoosiers came within 12 with eight minutes left. The ghosts of Game One’s 17-point stumble had me sweating.

We had nothing to fear. New York was ahead by 14 with three minutes left and 18 with two to go. The Pacers rolled over for a belly rub, and the Garden faithful chanted, “Landry Shamet!” No collapse tonight!!!

Up Next

Game Six will be played in Indianapolis on Saturday. Safe travels, Knickerbockers.

Box Score