Pacers not good enough in Garden for Game 5

The Knicks dominated all types of winning plays to push the Pacers to brink of elimination.

The Pacers were run out of Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night, 121-91 as the Knicks quickly avenged the butt kicking they took in Game 4, to turn the tables on the Pacers in Game 5 and reclaim control of the series with a 3-2 lead.

The opportunity for the Pacers to kill the Knicks’ will with a Game 5 win before heading home for Game 6 became a fanciful thought when it became apparent that the Knicks showed up for the kill, while the Pacers weren’t interested in getting in the mud to fight for the win.

It was obvious from the eye test, even early when the Pacers had sloppy turnovers and struggled to muster the energy to go for loose balls or rebounds. Tyrese Haliburton returned to his deferential ways which then turned to just letting someone else try to figure it out.

Watching Isaiah Hartenstein scoop up rebounds, including a dozen on the offensive glass, among a crowd of Pacers was disheartening and in fact, seemed to kill the will of the Pacers. The signature play in the second half didn’t result in a rebound for Hartenstein, but he did draw a foul. With a Knicks shot bouncing off the iron, a frustrated Myles Turner was drive blocking Hartenstein away from the ball, with two other Pacers in front of them. While a foul was called on Turner, Hartenstein STILL was the first to get a hand on the ball.

Jalen Brunson scored 44 points on 35 shots but had a crafty evening cooking everyone who tried to keep him out of the lane. Nembhard, Nesmith, McConnell and Sheppard were all given buckets throughout the game. The Pacers don’t have another lengthy option since the few times Siakam has been on Brunson, he can start further out to get past Siakam. If adjustments among the regular rotation don’t work, it may be time to throw Kendall Brown at him for five minutes or five fouls to see what he can do. KB’s speed and defensive size would be a nice option if he could avoid jumping out of the gym on Brunson’s signature head fakes. Hopefully, it won’t come to that in Game 6.

Photo: @nyknicks

Back to Game 5, the Pacers simply had no idea what they needed to do to win at MSG in this situation and by the end of the night left NYC with a hefty playoff scar that should help this group at some point in the future, but not on this night.

While the eye test was enough, a look at the numbers was even more damning of the Pacers effort.

Out rebounded 53 to 29 (ORebs 20 to 5!!!).

The Pacers had 18 turnovers to the Knicks’ 9. Taking care of the ball has been a positive trait of this Pacers team and the loose dribbles and horrible passes exposed a rattled team that was nowhere closes to being on the same page.

Grab the ball. Take care of the ball.

These are two critical areas the first steps toward being able to score, which is ultimately the goal of the game.

But in order to score, you have to shoot. With the drastic difference in rebounding and turnovers, the Knicks were able to attempt 29 more shots than the Pacers. At a minimum that’s 58 potential points, which almost makes the Pacers losing by ‘just’ 30 points, somewhat impressive.

The Knicks went small with guard Deuce McBride starting instead of PF Precious Achiuwa. The front court advantage for Myles Turner and Pascal Siakam was never apparent, particularly with the egregious rebounding differential. The Pacers couldn’t make the Knicks pay for playing small. Just brutal.

Turner flashed for about a minute in the third quarter when he made a trio of consecutive 3-balls, giving the Pacers some hope of making it a game. As quick as the threes splashed, the Knicks pushed the lead back to 16 points, and the Pacers couldn’t recover. Turner took exception to a near shot to the nether regions by Donte DiVincenczo which brought out some fire from the Pacers big man. But that fire didn’t translate to actual game play.

Haliburton took just 9 shots, finishing with 13 points and 5 assists, as the Knicks hounded him all around the court until Tyrese seemed fine with letting someone else figure out the offense. Once again, for I think the fourth time in the playoffs, Haliburton took the blame, needs to do a better job of being aggressive and promised to be better. This fluctuation in not only production, but control of the game, has been a major flaw all season and the continual sign of an immature team.

The Pacers will need to deliver a huge effort with the support of the Fieldhouse faithful on Friday night in Game 6. For this team to make it to Game 6 of a second round playoff series is an impressive feat.

Are they happy to have made it this far? Do they really want to keep playing?

If so, they can set up another tough, but valuable experience to lean on those fresh scars and take another swing at performing on the road in Game 7.

But first they have heed Rick Carlisle’s postgame advice and have a “cold blooded desire to go get the ball” in Game 6.

Game 6 Details

Where: Gainbridge Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, IN

When: Friday, May 17, 2024, 8:30 p.m. ET

TV: ESPN

Radio: 93.5/107.5 The Fan

Odds: Pacers -5

Projected Starters

Pacers: Tyrese Haliburton, Andrew Nembhard, Aaron Nesmith, Pascal Siakam, Myles Turner

Knicks: Jalen Brunson, Donte DiVincenzo, Josh Hart, Precious Achiuwa, Isaiah Hartenstein

Injuries

Pacers: Tyrese Haliburton (ankle, back) - questionable, Bennedict Mathurin (shoulder) - out

Knicks: OG Anunoby (hammy) - out, Mitchell Robinson (ankle) - out, Bojan Bogdanovic (foot) - out, Julius Randle (shoulder) - out