Jalen Brunson, Knicks hold off Pacers to force Game 6

By BRIAN MAHONEY AP Basketball Writer

NEW YORK — From Jalen Brunson’s sizzling start to the “Knicks in 7! Knicks in 7!” chants at the finish, this was New York’s night.

Maybe it can still be the Knicks’ series.

Brunson scored 32 points, Karl-Anthony Towns added 24 points and 13 rebounds despite a bruised left knee and the Knicks stayed alive in the Eastern Conference finals by beating the Indiana Pacers, 111-94, on Thursday in Game 5.

The Knicks won on their home court for the first time in the series and prevented the Pacers from earning the second NBA Finals trip in franchise history. Indiana will try again Saturday night at home.

“It’s a testament to our team answering the call,” Towns said.

New York extended its first trip to the conference finals since 2000 and kept alive hopes of becoming the 14th team to overcome a 3-1 deficit to win a series. No team has won a conference finals series after dropping the first two games at home.

Two nights after giving up 43 points in the first quarter, the Knicks held the Pacers to just 45 in the first half and limited Tyrese Haliburton, who had 32 points, 15 assists and 12 rebounds on Tuesday, to just eight points and six assists.

Brunson, outplayed by his point guard counterpart Tuesday, rebounded with his franchise-record 21st postseason game of 30 or more points with the Knicks.

“Our backs were against the wall. So, I mean, we’ve got to give it everything we got,” Brunson said.

Bennedict Mathurin scored 23 points off the bench for the Pacers, who had won six straight road games. Indiana shot just 40.5% from the field in by far its lowest-scoring game of the postseason.

“We obviously didn’t play with the level of force that we needed to,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. “We lost the rebound battle. We lost the turnover battle. We didn’t shoot well. They had a lot to do with it. So, give them a lot of credit and we’re going to have to play better.”

Brunson scored 14 on 6-for-9 shooting in the first quarter as the Knicks held a 27-23 lead – giving up 20 fewer points than in the first quarter of Game 4, when they trailed 43-35.

Towns, who was questionable to play after hurting his left knee in a collision late in Game 4, picked up the slack with 12 in the second, when Brunson was scoreless.

Brunson came back with the Knicks’ first eight of the third quarter as they opened a 20-point lead midway through the period. The Pacers cut that in half before New York regained control with a 12-0 burst, highlighted by Brunson’s four-point play, to make it 86-64.

‘ROUGH NIGHT’ FOR HALIBURTON

Haliburton followed his historic triple-double by getting held to single digits in everything.

With a passive performance from their playmaker, the Pacers will need Haliburton to be much closer to the player who dominated Game 4 than the one who managed only two baskets in Game 5 when they try again at home Saturday.

“Rough night for me,” Haliburton said.

Haliburton had the first 30-15-10 game (with zero turnovers) in the postseason since turnovers were first tracked in 1977-78 in Game 4, but he was limited to eight points, six assists and two rebounds Thursday. The All-NBA point guard didn’t even have a basket in the first half, when the Pacers’ total of 45 points was just two more than the had in the first quarter of Game 4.

“I’ve got to be better setting the tone, getting downhill. I feel like I didn’t do a great job of that but I’ll watch the film,” Haliburton said. “There were some different things they did defensively, but for the most part their base stuff was the same. They picked up the pressure a little bit more, try to apply more as the game went on. But I’ve got to be better and I will be better in Game 6.”

The Knicks cut down on some of the mistakes they made in Game 4 that allowed Haliburton and the Pacers to get their transition game going. And they were much sharper in the halfcourt, rarely letting him penetrate into the lane to set up opportunities for himself of his teammates.

“It’s probably a combination of him missing some shots he normally makes, but I thought our guys were tied together and trying to make him work for everything and that’s what you have to do,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said.

The Pacers were held to their lowest point total of the postseason, but Haliburton wasn’t the only one who struggled. Aaron Nesmith shot just 1 for 8 on the same court where he had a postseason career-high 30 points to spark Indiana’s comeback in Game 1.

Pascal Siakam, who had his postseason career high of 39 in Game 2, was limited to 15 – and that made him the only Indiana starter in double figures.

“We weren’t great as a group,” Haliburton said.

“We turned the ball over too much, didn’t rebound to our ability (like) we have shown this series. When you (don’t) do those two things against these guys in a game that comes down to so many possessions, it’s tough. So, we’ve got to be better as a group. I think our pace has to be better and that starts with me. I’ve got to be better there.”