Indiana Pacers coach Rick Carlisle on Friday challenged his team to play more physically and more tenaciously and his desperate team responded with one of their most inspired performances all season, with Pascal Siakam finishing with 25 points and seven rebounds, and Myles Turner adding 17 points and eight rebounds as the Pacers turned the tables on the New York Knicks with a 116-103 victory to even the Eastern Conference semi-finals at 3-3.
The decisive Game 7 is to be played today at Madison Square Garden in New York.
“I thought Game 5 was our least aggressive game in the playoffs,” Carlisle said. “We played hard tonight, which was a must. They came out really hard tonight, which was evident, but we moved the ball better, we got more rebounds and that’s obviously been a big part in this series.”
Photo: Trevor Ruszkowski-USA Today
Indiana had two days to figure out how to contend with the Knicks’ hustle plays and their strength on the glass, two things that led to Tuesday’s 30-point blowout in Game 5 and put the Pacers on the brink of elimination.
This time, the Pacers held a 47-35 rebounding edge and even had a slight 14-13 advantage on the offensive end. They had balanced scoring, too, which spread out the Knicks defense.
Tyrese Haliburton and Andrew Nembhard each scored 15 points, with Nembhard pulling down six rebounds and dishing out six assists. Haliburton had nine assists as Indiana kept its perfect post-season home record intact at 6-0, in front of a raucous sellout crowd that helped re-energize the Pacers during key moments.
“We knew they were going to play hard coming off the last game, and that’s what it’s about,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said. “We’re just going to have to play a lot better.”
Even Jalen Brunson, the All-Star who has been the league’s top post-season scorer, finished with 31 points and five assists while shooting 11 of 26 from the field, but that came after he missed his final 11 shots in the first half.
Deuce McBride added 20 points and Donte DiVincenzo had 17, but the short-handed Knicks might have suffered yet another blow when Josh Hart left in the fourth quarter with what the Knicks called abdominal soreness.
“I expect him to play,” Brunson said when asked about Hart. “It’s Game 7.”
The good news for the Knicks is they do not have to return to Indiana, where they have lost nine straight playoff games.
Instead, they are heading back to the Garden against a group of many players making their first playoff appearances or playing key roles for the first time in the post-season.
“It’s exciting,” Haliburton said. “We’ve got nothing to lose. I think we realize it’s time to empty the clip. We are ready to go from start to finish.”
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