Whoever injures by blowout, perishes by blowout. After the Pacers’ large victory in game 4, the Knicks responded in kind and gave their opponents a 30-point lead, dominating them from the end of the first quarter onwards without ever questioning their lead in the series. An 11-0 run allows the home team to take control of the match and they never look back, taking just one victory away from their first conference finals since 2000.
The “rest” of game 4, thanks to the game never being discussed, was very good for Brunson, who started off in high gear scoring 28 points in the first half alone (a record in the history of the Knicks in the playoffs) finishing with 44 and a spectacular 18/35 shooting with 4 rebounds, 7 assists and +31 in 43 minutes. Thibodeau changes the quintet by putting Deuce McBride (17 points) in place of Precious Achiuwa and unlocks the attack, with Josh Hart with a double double (18+11), also drawing Alec Burks’ 18 from the bench.
The tactical key of the match, however, is the attacking rebounds: the Knicks take 20 of them, 12 of which are signed by the unstoppable Isaiah Hartenstein, signing a new record in the history of the franchise in the playoffs. For the big man there were 7 points, 17 rebounds and 5 assists, providing 26 second chance points for the home team. “We were annihilated on loose balls and rebounds. We have to take responsibility for it. It was embarrassing, a very hard lesson” commented Carlisle.
After three games averaging 29.7 points, Tyrese Haliburton had an evening of just 13 points in 34 minutes, without ever dominating the match (5 assists, 5/9 shooting). The best for the guests is Pascal Siakam with 22 points, followed by 16 by Myles Turner and 11 by Andrew Nembhard, but the enormous rebounding differential (53-29 in favor of New York) is too great to think of breaking the bank Madison Square Garden. Now to even the series the Pacers are relying on their fans, in front of whom they have not lost in 10 consecutive games.
It’s not a playoff series between New York and Indiana if a few too many shots don’t fly, if tempers don’t ignite, if a couple of situations don’t arise where adranaline and testosterone bring game situations to the limit. And the referees in game 5 had a lot to do to calm things down, dispensing five technical fouls, three to the Knicks (DiVincenzo, Hartenstein, Burks) and two to the Pacers (Jackson and Turner).