Things got spicey at the Garden on Friday evening.
Pascal Siakam delivered, scoring 39 points, a career playoff high, leading the Indiana Pacers to a nail-biting, down to the wire 114-109 win over the New York Knicks in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals on Friday night at Madison Square Garden.
It is the first time in franchise history the Knicks have lost the first two games of a playoff series on their home court.
Siakam’s heater was like a Broadway show, hitting shot from everywhere on the floor and was vital for the Pacers, who got 14 points and 11 assists from Tyrese Haliburton and 16 from Myles Turner. Andrew Nembhard and Aaron Nesmith added 12 points each, and T.J. McConnell contributed 10 off the bench.
The Pacers broke an 83-83 tie early in the fourth quarter with an 11-2 surge, punctuated by a 3-pointer from the man of the hour, Siakam. The Knicks cut the deficit to three points on three different occasions, but Indiana responded to each challenge, specifically on 3s by Turner and Haliburton, who finally knocked down big shots late after being quiet through most of the game.
The Knicks sliced the Pacers lead to one, 110-109, with 14.1 seconds remaining in regulation on a layup by Josh Hart, but Jalen Brunson fouled Nesmith on the ensuing inbounds, and the automatic 91.3% free-throw shooter calmly stepped to the line and converted both attempts. Brunson then missed a long 3-point try, and Turner hit two more free throws after being fouled.
“We don’t care about who scores, we just wanna win the game,” Siakam told TNT after the game.
Brunson scored a team-high 36 points with 11 assists for the Knicks, but failed to come through in the clutch, coming up short on his final two triples. Karl-Anthony Towns and Mikal Bridges each added 20 points, but Towns, who finished a game-high minus-20, was benched for most of the fourth quarter.
Embed from Getty Images“We got in a hole, and the group that was in there gave us a chance,” Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau told reporters after the game about Towns’ benching.
The Pacers showed off the depth of their lineup early that has been carrying them all season long, with Siakam scoring their first 11 points. Nesmith and Nembhard scored Indiana’s next eight, pushing the Pacers to a double-digit lead, 19-9, midway through the first quarter.
However, New York then fought back and went on a 10-0 run of their own to tie the game, fueled by 3-pointers from Miles McBride and Brunson. At that point, perhaps Indiana needed a basket from Haliburton to stop the bleeding, but instead Siakam added another five points. The Knicks ended the quarter with a 26-24 advantage on a dunk by OG Anunoby and a tip-in from Mitchell Robinson.
The Pacers trailed by three, 52-49 going into the locker room, with Haliburton scoring only two points on 1-of-7 shooting with five assists. Brunson provided his expected scoring punch with 17 points, and Siakam had 23 points in the opening 24 minutes of action against a bigger lineup with Towns and Robinson. However, going bigger gave the Knicks a significant 21-14 rebounding edge, preventing the Pacers from running and playing at a faster pace.
“When you play such a terrible half like that and you’re only down 3, I think that gives you a lot of confidence,” Haliburton told TNT after the game.
The Knicks’ momentum did not transfer over to the second half as the Pacers picked up steam and posted their two highest-scoring quarters of the game, 34 and 31 points, respectively. The Pacers now return to the comfort of their home crowd at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
“You cannot assume going home is gonna be easier,” Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle told reporters after the game.
Some of the celebrities who were sighted at the game were Timothée Chalamet, Ben Stiller, Jon Hamm, Busta Rhymes, and Tracy Morgan. Michael J. Fox, Ciara and Russell Wilson, Bill Murray, Jerry O’Connell, Jon Hamm, Brian Daboll, Marv Albert, Bob Costas and a host of Knicks former players were also front and center.
Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals is scheduled for Sunday at 8 p.m. ET.
