NBA playoffs takeaways: Jalen Brunson-led Knicks top Pacers, force Game 6

New York Times

a day ago

By Joe Vardon, Mike Vorkunov, Eric Koreen and James Boyd
NEW YORK – Karl-Anthony Towns took the bruise from his left knee, and together with his New York Knicks teammates, planted it squarely on the Indiana Pacers' foreheads, keeping the Eastern Conference finals alive for at least another game.
Towns shook off a sore knee and 'questionable' designation on the injury report to go for 24 points and 13 rebounds, Jalen Brunson turned in another monster game with 32 points and New York beat Indiana 111-94 Thursday at Madison Square Garden.
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The Pacers still lead the series, 3-2, with Game 6 at 8 p.m. ET Saturday in Indianapolis. Indiana's stars struggled mightily in Game 5, with Tyrese Haliburton, the series MVP up until this point, managing just eight points on 2-of-7 shooting. A bench player, Bennedict Mathurin, was Indiana's leading scorer with 23 points.
The Knicks are trying to become the first team in history to lose the first two games of the conference finals at home and go on to win the series.
'You just take it game-by-game, you've got to keep fighting every game, every possession,' Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said.
The Pacers had won six consecutive road playoff games prior to Game 5. They can still close out this series and punch their first trip to the NBA Finals since 2000, and second in franchise history, by winning Game 6.
'It's never not the hardest game,' Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said about closeout games. His team closed out Milwaukee in the first round and Cleveland in the second with Game 5 triumphs.
Pascal Siakam was the only Indiana starter to score in double-figures, finishing with 15 points on 5-of-13 shooting. The Pacers also lost reserve center Tony Bradley to a left hip strain.
Towns, an All-NBA selection, was averaging 25.8 points and 11.4 rebounds and is shooting 45 percent from 3-point range in this series prior to Game 5, but has been targeted defensively because he struggles to guard in space, where the Pacers thrive.
Indiana managed to ring up five fouls against Towns, but he played with much more force than his counterparts. He shot 10 of 20 from the field and added three assists. His baseline drive through Mathurin for a basket (he missed the free throw) with 2:44 left put the Knicks back up by 16, and the game was about over.
This was, by far, the most lopsided game in what had been a very close series. Though Indiana won three out of the first four, the Pacers' total margin in the conference finals was plus-11 heading into Game 5. Which means, of course, after losing by 17 Thursday, they have now been outscored in the series.
The Knicks got one of the best games Brunson has played all playoffs at the best time. The Knicks star scored 32 points, with five rebounds and five assists, in a must-win game, and he was the difference in the first three quarters as New York built up its big lead. Brunson had been outplayed by Haliburton so far this series but he turned it around in Game 5. He hit 12 of 18 shots and was the run-stopper the Knicks needed. The Knicks got other strong performances — 24 and 13 from Towns — and three other guys were in double-digits, while the defense finally found a way to slow down the Pacers' offense. But it was Brunson who loomed largest.
4-PT PLAY‼️
30 PTS for JB pic.twitter.com/tQWScD8N70
— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) May 30, 2025
Who knows if this will turn the series or not. A 3-1 deficit is hard to come back from, and this series now shifts back to Indianapolis for Game 6, though home-court advantage hasn't mattered much so far. Knicks fans certainly weren't lacking in confidence as they chanted 'Knicks in seven' in the final moments of this game. If they are proven right, it will be Brunson who guides the Knicks there, just like he did Thursday night. — Mike Vorkunov, national business reporter
Early in the third quarter, Brunson drove to the basket, putting his shoulder into the chest of Indiana Pacers swingman Aaron Nesmith. Maybe it shouldn't have been an offensive foul, maybe it should have — players 'flop' because they're worried referees won't see a call otherwise. Regardless, Nesmith flailed his arms, turning his back to the play, while Brunson continued his drive. Nesmith tried to recover, but fouled Brunson on a made layup instead.
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Nesmith is the last Pacer who should be criticized for a lack of physicality. He's been playing with a sprained ankle since the second half of Game 3 and has generally given Brunson a tough time. It was emblematic of the evening, though. Towns was lumbering all the way to the rim while Siakam was pump-faking repeatedly to try to avoid contact on short push shots. Brunson was bullying toward the paint while Haliburton had trouble touching the paint at all. Only Mathurin, who had 23 points and eight rebounds in 25 minutes, looked comfortable absorbing contact and continuing to push forward. The Pacers scored 34 points in the paint while New York scored 60. Maybe it was the gulf in desperation, but this deficiency hadn't really shown up in this series until Thursday.
Offensively, the Pacers are dependent more on speed and shot-making than brute force, and it has carried them to within a win of the NBA Finals. They don't need to dominate the offensive glass or close off the paint entirely on defense. If they want to close this out on Saturday, they have to narrow that margin, probing the paint more often with the ball. — Eric Koreen, senior writer
Haliburton was a no-show in Game 5, two days after his 32-point, 15-assist, 12-rebound and four-steal effort in Game 4 lifted Indiana to a victory and put New York on the brink of elimination. With a chance Thursday to push the Pacers into the NBA Finals for the first time in 25 years, Haliburton was strikingly passive. Part of that could be attributed to the Knicks face-guarding Haliburton, but the Pacers star has also been prone to these kinds of head-scratching disappearing acts from time to time, which have driven the fan base crazy.
The frustrating part isn't necessarily the fact that Haliburton scored just eight points (with six assists and zero turnovers). It's the fact that he only took seven shots in 32 minutes, missing five of them. Haliburton's quiet night marked the second time during this playoff run when he was held below 10 points in a game, both of which were losses. Furthermore, Indiana is 26-26 this year during the regular season and playoffs when Haliburton scores less than 20 points, compared to 31-4 when he scores at least 20 points.
Indiana's offensive struggles weren't solely on Haliburton, however. The rest of the Pacers' starters shot just 11 of 32 from the field. Siakam finished with 15 points on 5-of-13 shooting in Game 5 after scoring 30 points in Game 4. Nesmith totaled just three points on 1-of-8 shooting. Mathurin poured in 23 points off the bench, notching his second straight 20-point game, but it wasn't enough to galvanize his team. The Pacers' 94 points marked the first time they've been held below 100 points in the playoffs and just the sixth time all year when including the regular season. — James Boyd, staff writer