With Public Enemy No. 1 in the building, Reggie Miller and energized by one of this season’s most productive playoff performers, the No. 2 seed New York Knicks scratched and clawed their way back from a double-digit halftime deficit to beat the Indiana Pacers by nine, 130-121, in Game 2 of their second round series on Wednesday night.
All-Star point guard Jalen Brunson scored 24 of his team-high 29 points in the second half after exiting the game with a sore foot in the first quarter, knocking down multiple clutch shots down the stretch in front of a capacity crowd at Madison Square Garden.
The Knicks vanquished the Philadelphia 76ers in the first round of the playoffs and has now built a commanding 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference semifinals.
The atmosphere was ear-piercing in the Garden, with fans directing loud profanity-laced chants towards Pacers legend Reggie Miller, who has a checkered past with Knicks supporters, especially Spike Lee, and was courtside as part of the TNT Sports commentary crew. Other fans and celebrities in attendance along with Lee were Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, Kevin Bacon along with sports figures Walt Frazier, CC Sabathia and Latrell Sprewell, to name a few.
The Knicks, already without Julius Randle, Bojan Bogdanović and Mitchell Robinson due to season-ending injuries, would have been fearing and bracing for the worst when Brunson was subbed out just over eight minutes into the game with an apparent foot injury and were left feeling the effects of his absence as the Pacers
extended their lead to 10 points by the end of the first half, 73-63.
However, on the anniversary of Willis Reed’s dramatic emergence from the locker room before Game 7 of the 1970 NBA Finals to lead the Knicks to their first title, Brunson eased their concerns when he came out of the locker room for the second-half shootaround and was showered with ‘MVP’ chants raining down from the appreciative home crowd.
“This place has been nothing but special to me, so I appreciate everything that they do,” an appreciative Brunson told reporters. “I just knew that I had to get my mind in the right place to figure out how I was going to attack the second half.”
Embed from Getty Images“I mean, he’s a warrior. That’s all I got,” Knicks wing Donte DiVincenzo said of Brunson postgame. “There was no doubt in my mind that he’ll be back. All season long, no matter what is thrown at him, injury bug or whatever, he always bounces back. And we knew the severity of the game and everything, so we knew, everybody had confidence he was coming back.”
Brunson’s return coincided with a dominant third quarter in the Knicks favor, who outscored the Pacers by 18 in the period.
Every Knicks starter cracked double figures, with DiVincenzo and OG Anunoby adding 28 apiece. Josh Hart, who never seems to run out of gas, had 19 points, 15 rebounds and seven assists, playing every single minute of the contest for the fourth time this postseason. He is averaging 46.8 minutes per game in the playoffs, which tops the league.
The Pacers were led by All-Star guard Tyrese Haliburton, who bounced back from a subpar performance in Game 1, racking up 34 points on 11-19 from the field, nine assists and three steals in the losing effort, while former Knick Obi Toppin came up big, added 20 points off the bench.
The sixth-seeded Pacers upset a shorthanded Milwaukee Bucks team in six games in the first round, though the No. 3 seed played the entire series without two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo.
There was a bizarre moment late in the fourth quarter when the game was whistled dead and Knicks big man Isaiah Hartenstein appeared to be penalized for a double dribble, though after discussion, the officials ruled that it was an inadvertent whistle and possession was returned to New York.
Indiana head coach Rick Carlisle was incensed by the decision and was eventually ejected from the game.
“I’m always talking to our guys about not making it about the officials, but we deserve a fair shot,” he said after the game.
“There’s not a consistent balance and that’s disappointing.
“Small-market teams deserve an equal shot. They deserve a fair shot no matter where they are playing.”
As a result, the Pacers filed what they believed were 49 incorrect calls from Game 2, plus the 29 calls from Game 1, for a grand total of 78 calls that they have disputed with the NBA league office, according to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst.
The series heads to Indianapolis for Game 3 on Friday.
