Pacers trying to stay 'day-to-day, moment-to-moment' as they look to advance to Finals

Indianapolis Star

2 days ago

INDIANAPOLIS -- Rick Carlisle has gone to great lengths during the Eastern Conference Finals to make sure the Pacers don't get ahead of themselves. That's included making every attempt to slow the pace of the media getting ahead of itself, even though that's a force that he doesn't have the power to actually stop.
Since Game 1 of the series, Carlisle has made pains to frame the series not as a best-of-seven that could have been finished as few as four games, but as a 13-day gauntlet for which the Pacers had to be prepared to go the distance. Even after the Pacers took a 3-1 series lead on the Knicks with a 130-121 win on Tuesday night to come within one win of a berth in the NBA Finals for the second time in franchise history and the first since 2000, Carlisle spoke as if Pacers would still need all 13 days to advance.
"In our world right now it's Day 7 of 13 and tomorrow's Day 8," Carlisle said. "We have to just keep our eye on the ball and keep focusing on each day."
On Day 8 on Wednesday, the Pacers flew to New York for Game 5 at Madison Square Garden on Thursday, which would be Day 9. They are 2-0 there in this series and they've won three straight playoff games in the World's Most Famous Arena going back to their record-breaking shooting performance in Game 7 of last year's Eastern Conference semifinals.
They have no reason to be intimidated by the arena or the environment at this point. After all, they're 6-1 on the road so far in these playoffs. They didn't have any trouble winning Games 1 and 2 with the likes of Spike Lee and Ben Stiller on the sidelines and Mary J. Blige and Busta Rhymes playing the halftime shows so there's no reason to suspect they'd wilt in front of them in Game 5. That being said, they expect the Knicks to play at a higher level at home with their season on the line and they are aware that desperation is a powerful force.
"They're gonna play as desperate as they can, as they should," All-Star point guard Tyrese Haliburton said after his 32-point, 15-assist, 12-rebound triple-double in Game 4. "They're gonna come out and throw a punch and throw more punches and more punches and we just have to be ready to respond to those."
Despite the Pacers' impressive performance in Game 4, they were reminded even within the game that the Knicks have plenty of capacity to throw punches and connect. Despite Haliburton's masterful performance, 30 points from Pascal Siakam and high-level play from Aaron Nesmith and Bennedict Mathurin, the Knicks still kept in contact until the fourth quarter. Even as the Pacers got off to a blistering 43-point first quarter start, the Knicks were still behind by just eight after one and then trailed by just five points at halftime. They were still within six with 3:17 to go before the Pacers finally pulled away.
Knicks All-NBA guard Jalen Brunson had 31 points and All-NBA center Karl-Anthony Towns had 24. Former Indiana University star and two-way wing O.G. Anunoby scored 22 points which included just one 3-pointer on seven attempts, but that was such an impressive shot that Carlisle and Haliburton made a point to mention it in their post-game comments.
All of that is to say that even though the Pacers are clearly in control of the series, they're aware they're playing a team with enough talent and grit to still take it from them.