Thibodeau on Knicks' Game 5 performance

New York Times

a day ago

Knicks beat Pacers in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals to force Game 6 Saturday night in Indiana Getty Images
Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns set the tone for New York, combining to score 56 points and paved the way for a 111-94 Knicks win in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals at Madison Square Garden.
Brunson scored the Knicks' first six points of the night, eventually finishing with 32 points on 12-18 shooting to go with five rebounds and five assists. Towns battled through foul trouble but still finished with 24 points and 13 boards.
Tyrese Haliburton followed his magical Game 4 with a muted performance, with just eight points on 2-7 shooting and six assists. Bennedict Mathurin had another strong night, scoring 23 points in 25 minutes, and Pascal Siakam scored 15 points on just 5-13 shooting.
Game 6 will be Saturday at 8 p.m. ET in Indiana.
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The Knicks looked more like an old-school Tom Thibodeau team than at any other point this series with how they defended.
"I thought our guys were tied together in trying to make (Tyrese Haliburton) work for everything," Thibodeau said. "That's what you have to do. You have to make them fight on every possession."
Offensively, Thibodeau said Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns' aggression in the first quarter "set the tone" for the game.
"We gotta make sure we stay aggressive, and we have to stay disciplined."
All of a sudden, Bennedict Mathurin has scored 20+ points in consecutive games for the Indiana Pacers. After scoring just 11 points across the first three games of the series, he scored 20 points in Game 4 and followed that up with a 23-point night in Game 5.
Mathurin shot 6-10 from the field and got to the line nine times, converting on each of these attempts. He has now shot 20 free throws in the last two games over just 27 minutes of action.
Including playoffs, the Indiana Pacers are only 3-10 this season when Tyrese Haliburton scores fewer than 10 points this season.
Haliburton had only 8 points on 2-of-7 field goals, his fewest field goal attempts in a game since December 26.
"We just found a way," Jalen Brunson tells TNT on the court after the final buzzer sounds on the Knicks' Game 5 win.
"I feel like we just played better. We played to our standards. We give them a lot of credit for the way they play, but we played Knicks basketball tonight."
On the pressure in Game 6 with the Knicks still facing elimination:
"Just focus on one thing at a time, one quarter and go from there."
That lack of aggression from Indiana starts with the Pacers' superstar. A stat line of eight points on 2-for-7 shooting in a potential close-out game is worthy of criticism if it game from a 20-minute-a-game bench player, let alone Tyrese Haliburton.
He did have six assists, but if he wants to lead the Pacers to the NBA Finals, he can't afford another performance like that this series.
With the Knicks needing a win to prolong their season, Karl-Anthony Towns met the moment just like he did in Game 3.
New York's center scored 24 points on 10-20 shooting and grabbed 13 boards. He was aggressive from the outset, putting pressure on the rim, especially in his minutes with Jalen Brunson.
Towns picked up a few silly fouls and had to navigate foul trouble in the second half, otherwise this could have been an even bigger game for him.
"If we find a Pacer highlight, it'd be a miracle." — Charles Barkley, on the "Inside the NBA" postgame show
New York had 10 steals in Game 5. They weren't able to turn Tyrese Haliburton over. But the 10 steals is the most the Knicks have had since Game 2 of the semifinals at Boston.
The Pacers finished the game shooting 40.5 percent from the field. That is their lowest field goal percentage in any of their 15 postseason games this season. Their previous low was 43.3 percent in their Game 3 loss to the Bucks.
Myles Turner was the only Pacers starter to shoot better than 50 percent and he only scored five points on 2-of-3 shooting. The rest of the starters shot less than 40 percent from the field. Pascal Siakam: 5-of-13 from the field
Aaron Nesmith: 1-of-8 from the field
Andrew Nembhard: 3-of-8 from the field
Tyrese Haliburton: 2-of-7 from the field
The Indiana Pacers attempted only 74 field goals tonight, a byproduct of 22 New York fouls, but also a postseason high 19 turnovers while also getting only eight offensive rebounds.
The 74 attempts is Indiana's fewest in the 97 games they have played this season.
Feels like the Knicks have found themselves a legitimate 9-10 man rotation over the last 3 games with Landry Shamet and Delon Wright.
Pacers were searching a little bit tonight. Interested to see how they punch back in Game 6.
For the third time in these Eastern Conference finals, Jalen Brunson poured in the points at Madison Square Garden.
But for the first time, it resulted in a win.
Brunson set the tone early in the first quarter and finished with 32 points, five assists and five rebounds to help force a Game 6.
FINAL - Knicks 111, Pacers 94
There will be a Game 6 in the 2025 Eastern Conference finals.
The Knicks keep their season alive behind heroic games from Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns and their best defensive performance of this series.
See you Saturday in Indianapolis.
In all seriousness, it is interesting that Nembhard is the one starter finishing this game. He is now 5 for 27 in the last three games. Maybe Carlisle is hoping he can get any sort of positive moment to help propel him on Saturday.
There's a loud "Knicks in 7" chant at MSG and the locals are projecting confidence.
The Pacers just didn't bring the requisite level of energy and fight to tonight's game. To end a team's season, you need to be willing to play with the same level of desperation as the team with their back against the wall. Indiana was not ready to do that tonight and now they will have to go back home to try to end the Knicks' season on Saturday.
Great response by the Knicks, their two stars brought their A games and the whole squad really dialed up the defense. Indiana's starting unit has had dominant numbers all season, but they were totally outclassed tonight.
Q4 1:29 - Knicks 108, Pacers 90
Madison Square Garden is on its feet. The Knicks are about to win a home game for the first time in this series.
We're less than 90 minutes from Game 6 in Indiana on Saturday.
Rick Carlisle has pulled all his starters except for Andrew Nembhard. Knowing this series, this is when the Pacers comeback starts.
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