Knicks reach one of Jalen Brunson's preseason goals but remain 'unsatisfied' entering Eastern Conference Finals with Pacers
In August, Jalen Brunson was at MSG for a ceremony to celebrate his team captaincy.
Bruson spoke that day about the influence of his parents, Rick and Sandra. He talked about the team-friendly extension that he'd signed a few weeks earlier. He also touched on his goals for the coming season.
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One of them?
'How we can get past the second round,' he said.
For most of the 2024-25 season, it seemed like the Knicks had no chance to advance beyond Round 2 of the Eastern Conference playoffs. They'd be facing either the Cavs or the Celtics -- two teams that beat them soundly in the regular season.
So logic told you that the Knicks' 2024-25 season would end in the same way the previous two had: a loss in the second round.
Obviously, that logic flew out the window over the past two weeks.
The Knicks reached Brunson's preseason goal by overcoming 20-point deficits to win Games 1 and 2 on the road. They closed the series on Friday night thanks, in part, to stout team defense.
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They are now headed to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time in 25 years.
Knicks fans were celebrating outside of The Garden -- cell phones capturing every moment for social media -- after the win.
Inside the building, the Knicks weren't interested in toasting their success.
'I feel like we have a long way to go,' Brunson said. 'Just the confidence we have in each other and everything. Just knowing who we are. We tend to be unsatisfied.'
May 16, 2025; New York, New York, USA; New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson (11) controls the ball against Boston Celtics forward Torrey Craig (12) during the fourth quarter of game six in the second round of the 2025 NBA Playoffs at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images / © Brad Penner-Imagn Images
FILM STUDY
The Knicks certainly weren't satisfied with how things unfolded in Boston on Wednesday. They had a chance to put the Celtics away in Game 5 and fumbled it away with an unfocused effort.
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'The whole day of Game 5, it just wasn't us,' Brunson said. 'And we knew that, we reflected on it, and we came back and we said, 'We need to be ready, we need to be better.''
Several players mentioned the film sessions and a meeting between Games 5 and 6 as catalysts for what you saw on Friday.
'We had to talk it out, (figure out) how to communicate better,' Miles McBride said of the message from the meeting. 'And I feel like we just went out there with a different type of energy.'
May 16, 2025; New York, New York, USA; New York Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns (32) celebrates his three point shot against the Boston Celtics during the first quarter of game six in the second round of the 2025 NBA Playoffs at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images / © Brad Penner-Imagn Images
SPARK FROM TOWNS
The energy started with an early lift from Karl-Anthony Towns. After a quiet night in Game 5, Towns was aggressive early against Boston. He and the Knicks took advantage of Boston's decision to put a smaller defender on Towns. They found Towns in transition and found success in five-out lineups.
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'That helped set the tone for the game,' said Tom Thibodeau. '… He got established (offensively), and then the rebounding and his pick-and-roll defense was outstanding. We were able to play off that.'
New York got contributions from all over the roster on Friday. Josh Hart had a triple-double. Mikal Bridges and OG Anunoby both had 20-plus points and helped stifle Boston all night. Brunson had 23 points and six assists. New York was plus-seven on the offensive boards and kept Boston in check on the perimeter (the Celtics were 8-for-30 on threes in the first three quarters).
'The way we prepared, the way we talked out there, the way we made it an emphasis to have each other's back and to continue to cover for each other (was important),' Brunson said. 'It's focused on the defensive side of the ball, and when we're doing that and offense, we're flowing.'
They hope to keep flowing into Game 1 of the ECF on Wednesday. The Knicks will have a few days to prepare for the Pacers. Maybe they'll even take some time to celebrate the win over Boston. But the focus will quickly turn to Indiana.
'There's more to do,' Bridges said. 'We're not done. We came out there tonight to play hard and handle business, but our season's not over. We've got so much more to do.'
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Indianapolis Star
31 minutes ago
- Indianapolis Star
How Pacers' Tyrese Haliburton shut out the noise and found a way to beat the Thunder
INDIANAPOLIS -- Pacers point guard Tyrese Haliburton knows what to expect from the online and television discourse every time he has a performance like he had in Game 2 of the NBA Finals -- when his scoring and field goal attempt numbers take a dip and he doesn't make the impact he wants to. During the regular season it's more of a local phenomenon, but once the postseason hit, the discourse became more national with every round. How is it possible someone capable of so much magic in a historically improbable late-game comeback such as Game 1 of this series when Haliburton hit a game-winning jumper with 0.3 seconds to go to be so quiet in games the Pacers lose. They say he's not aggressive enough or too inconsistent to be considered a superstar and wonder why the 2023-24 NBA assist leader hasn't figured out that he should just shoot more. The narratives are overly simplistic, but Haliburton knows at this point there's only so much he can do to change that. He admits that he is "chronically online" and has a better sense of the NBA and how it's covered than just about any other active player, but at this stage he's actively trying to avoid the social media that he usually drinks in. "I think the commentary is always going to be what it is, you know?" Haliburton said. "Most of the time, the talking heads on the major platforms, I couldn't care less. Honestly, like what do they really know about basketball?" Re-live the Pacers unbelievable run to the NBA Finals in IndyStar's commemorative book Haliburton is aware there's a correlation between his scoring and the Pacers' success. He averaged 21.2 points in wins in the regular season on 14.6 field goal attempts per game and 14.3 points per game on 12.4 field goal attempts in defeats. But he views his scoring less as a cause of the Pacers' wins and more of a connected effect. He scores more and the Pacers win more when he's getting two feet in the paint, and that happens when he's orchestrating the Pacers whirling, ball-movement oriented offense the way that he wants to. The wispy 6-5, 185-pounder who was raised on Magic Johnson highlight videos is neither physically nor mentally built to doggedly drive into the lane to pile up shots and draw fouls in an effort to score 30 or 40 points every night. But when he gets the offense spinning, he can put up big scoring and assist numbers by letting the game come to him. Usually when he doesn't score much, that's a sign of a deeper dysfunction in execution, and Haliburton looks to find that issue rather than focus on his field goal attempts. And in Game 3 he made the adjustments he needed to make. After scoring 17 points in Sunday's Game 2 with 12 of them coming in the fourth quarter after the Pacers had faded too far to come back, Haliburton dazzled in Game 3 with 22 points, 11 assists and nine rebounds to help lead the Pacers to a 116-107 win over the Thunder on Wednesday in their first NBA Finals home game since 2000. Twenty-five years to the day after the Pacers' Game 3 win over the Lakers in the 2000 Finals, they took a 2-1 lead in this NBA Finals with Game 4 coming up Friday at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Haliburton didn't view the performance as a triumph of aggression or will but of an adjustment in mindset and strategy against a Thunder defense that he told ESPN he considers to be the best he's played against. In Game 2, Haliburton believed he allowed the Pacers' system of randomized movement to become too predictable and too predicated on high ball screens -- usually Haliburton's bread and butter, but an action that plays right into the hands of a swarming Thunder defense. In Game 3, he mixed up actions well enough to create space which was beneficial not only for him but everyone else on the Pacers' roster. Their 116 points were the most they've scored in a game this series, they shot a series-best 51.8% from the floor and scored 50 points in the paint after scoring just 34 in each of the first two games. "We did a great job of just playing off the pitch, off handoffs, screening, all those things," Haliburton said. "I thought we did a great job of -- this is a defense that you can't consistently give them the same look. If you try to hold the ball and call for screens, they crawl into you and pack the paint. It's not easy. It's really tough. That's why they are such a historical defense. You just have to continue to give them different looks as much as you can. I thought we did a great job of just playing and continuing to play random basketball. Against a team like this, there's not really play calls. You've just got to play." That's what Haliburton did and he let his own offense come to him as the game went along. He didn't take a shot for nearly six minutes to start the game and he missed his first field goal attempt, a 20-foot step-back pull-up jumper with 6:10 to go in the first quarter. But he followed that by driving past Thunder All-NBA second team defender Jalen Williams to the right side of the foul line and hitting a 16-foot floater over Thunder center Isaiah Hartenstein with 5:10 to play in the first quarter. Then he hit his first 3-pointer in first-team All-Defensive Team pick Luguentz Dort's face with 3:00 to go in the period and suddenly he had his rhythm established early. Haliburton put faith in his floater -- a weapon he's admittedly sometimes too reluctant to use -- hitting three mid-range shots in that fashion over top of charging big men. He scored two buckets at the rim -- one an impressive finish on a drive through contact and the other an easy two-handed fast-break dunk off a steal. He was 4 of 8 from 3-point range, hitting his most 3s since he made five in his 32-point, 15-assist, 12-rebound triple-double in the Pacers' win over the Knicks in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals. But he didn't just look for his own offense. He helped get fellow All-Star Pascal Siakam started early as Siakam scored the Pacers first six points en route to a 21-point night. Haliburton still got center Myles Turner involved with pick-and-roll and pick and pop actions even though the Pacers tried not to live off those as much. He made plays "off the pitch," using give-and-go actions with bigs operating near the top of the key with their back to the basket catching his passes and tossing them right back to him and that got Haliburton downhill momentum that he could use to either go to the rim or pass and it helped keep the Thunder from loading up their defense quickly. The Pacers managed 41 field goal attempts in the paint after taking just 27 in Game 2. "Terrific," Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said of Haliburton. "Look, every game you're going to have to make adjustments against this defense. There's just going to be different looks. You're going to have different high-level defenders on you. You're going to see some different coverage stuff. It's going to be constantly changing. So I thought his approach tonight was exactly what it needed to be, a combination of spatial awareness and aggression, and you know, a real good feel for aggression to score along with getting his teammates involved at the right times." Haliburton moves forward knowing that solving the Thunder defense for a game isn't the same as solving it for a series. Oklahoma City led the NBA in defensive rating and allowed the fewest paint points, and they'll find more ways to keep the ball away from the rim in Game 4. He also knows that there will be games when he's successfully bottled up or scores fewer points because he's more focused on creating for others. "I think there's going to be ebbs and flows," Haliburton said. "I'm never going to be, you know, super great and shoot so many shots every game consistently. There's going to be games where I don't and I've got to be able to find the right balance between the two. But I mean, I think experience is the best way I can learn from it. So seeing where I can be better is important through the first two games and just trying to be better today. You know, taking what the defense gives me, trying to play the right way and watch film and see where I can get better and be ready to go for Game 4." Haliburton has a lot of voices telling him he needs to shoot more. His personal trainer, Drew Hanlen, is particularly explicit about it, and Haliburton acknowledges that he sees plenty of examples of himself passing out on shots he should take and make in the course of a game. But part of that is a product of focus on making the textbook right play and keeping in mind the importance of involving his teammates. In turn, they trust his judgment. "Ty's got to do him," Siakam said. "That's what he's got to do, he's got to be himself every time he's out on the floor. He can impact the game in so many ways. So I'm really not worried about his scoring. I just know that he's going to make the right play. But when he's intentional about doing that every single play, I know something good is going to happen. So as long as he keeps doing that, we're going to be all right."
New York Times
an hour ago
- New York Times
Inside Pat McAfee's world: Adam Schefter's ban, solo GameDay dreams, possibly more live events
Pat McAfee's style is born from WWE DNA. McAfee is a character with traces of Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock and Roman Reigns — only real. He is outlandish, impulsive and lives in his own McAfeesphere. McAfee's unpredictable nature in writing his script is intoxicating for his audience. Like the best WWE stars, he can have his hand out to shake on an agreement and then quickly pull it away. That's Pat McAfee's music. Advertisement In recent weeks, McAfee has touted '#UpToSomethingSZN' on his social media feeds, which is the term he uses when he is thinking about new deals. While he is currently under contract with ESPN and WWE, the constraints of signed agreements have never stopped him. McAfee tends to get what he wants, which was exemplified by the right to swear on ESPN during his daily talk program, 'The Pat McAfee Show.' This privilege, a first in the network's long history, was part of McAfee's five-year, $85 million-plus licensing agreement with ESPN that he signed in the spring of 2023. McAfee has two years left on his College GameDay contract. Last year, he considered not returning before re-signing. He has mused with associates about starting his own, independent version of GameDay, according to sources briefed on discussions. This does not appear to be happening, at least not now. But he is mercurial and can make big decisions seemingly on whims. McAfee cares about his image. During a GameDay stop in Norman, Oklahoma, last fall, McAfee grew upset about being shown swinging and missing during a segment in which he faced a University of Oklahoma softball pitcher. McAfee, according to sources briefed on the incident, demanded to know the name of the GameDay staff member who put it on the air, but he was denied the information. He has essentially banned ESPN NFL insider Adam Schefter from his program since March. The usually omnipresent Schefter hasn't been on 'The Pat McAfee Show' since that month's free agent deadline. Sources said that the main issue stemmed from one incident. One afternoon, McAfee wanted Schefter on his program. Schefter was appearing on an ESPN2 free agency special and was unable to make it. Schefter, formerly a McAfee Show regular, has been banished ever since. (A McAfee sidekick, Ty Schmit, has remained a regular on Schefter's podcast). Advertisement Schefter's rival, NFL Network's Ian Rapoport, has been on McAfee's show instead. Prior to McAfee's program airing on ESPN, Rapoport had been a regular. ESPN NFL newcomer Peter Schrager also has appeared. 'Pat and his show are thriving on ESPN,' ESPN president of content Burke Magnus said in a statement. 'We are very pleased with the partnership. That said, in the nearly three years since Pat has brought his show to our platforms, we've continuously seen those out there that are seemingly obsessed with wanting to see Pat fail on ESPN. This rumor is just the latest example of that. Pat and his show continue to break the mold and reach new audiences, and we look forward to the continued success together.' Magnus did not answer any questions. McAfee did not return messages. ESPN declined further comment. Hours after The Athletic reached out about Schefter's banishment, an ESPN spokesperson said that Schefter will return to McAfee's show on Thursday for the first time in around three months. Besides the behind-the-scenes machinations, McAfee has also been in the middle of on-air headlines. He has discussed a false internet rumor about an unknown 18-year-old college student, which made national headlines, called a now-former top ESPN executive a 'rat' and allowed Aaron Rodgers to pontificate political and medical theories on the all-sports network. McAfee likes to pretend like he is some dumb jock, but he is smart and has quickly figured out the sports media business. He can do good and charitable TV, like his must-see kicking segments during GameDay, where he has given college students the chance to make a field goal for hundreds of thousands of dollars. He and Nick Saban, a yin-and-yang combo, have breathed new life into the iconic program. All in all, McAfee freelances, not guided by some traditional media playbook. He is gutsy, willing to jump from his WWE commentator seat and into the ring, and then make a bet-on-himself career turn. Advertisement In 2017, McAfee, then just 29 with knee issues, walked away from a $2.8 million salary as the punter for the Indianapolis Colts to join Barstool Sports. After several moves, his popularity led to a reported four-year, $120 million deal with FanDuel. Two years ago, he left that contract before its completion to sign his licensing deal with ESPN. ESPN values its connection with McAfee, who attracts a younger audience, according to ESPN's internal data. He and Stephen A. Smith are the network's most talked-about personalities. McAfee's association with ESPN is part of its strategy as it dives into the full direct-to-consumer game beginning this fall. ESPN will make its service available without a cable or any other type of bundled subscription. (Fans with cable or a similar subscription will see no change to their ESPN access.) In ESPN's first 30-second promotion for the new venture, McAfee joined Smith, Scott Van Pelt, Malika Andrews and Dick Vitale as the only current on-air personalities shown. As part of the fall launch of the direct-to-consumer service, a campaign that ESPN has marketed as 'Sports Forever,' ESPN has been trying to add more content to the enhanced ESPN app to make it a go-to for existing and future customers. It failed in luring Colin Cowherd from Fox Sports but succeeded with former ESPN personality Rich Eisen, taking his daily show from Roku. Both Cowherd's and Eisen's talk shows happen to be on at the same time as McAfee's noon-3 p.m. ET program. They would not have replaced McAfee from noon-2 p.m on ESPN's main channel, but they will be available via streaming, like McAfee's show. 'We will have responses, as well,' McAfee said on the air after the Eisen news was public. McAfee did not offer up any specifics. Adding to the time-slot counter-programming, Smith will have his own SiriusXM program from 1-3 p.m. ET that will be in direct competition with McAfee. ESPN has plenty of on-air contributors to go around, but there may be more scoreboard-keeping from McAfee, as there was with Schefter in March. Advertisement McAfee clearly values the guests he has — and part of his personality seems to crave the WWE-type conflict. He writes the script and, like the best dramas, it is always hard to know where it is going to go. We will offer a prediction of sorts: McAfee will likely look to do more live events. In April, he performed in front of a reported crowd of more than 12,500 fans in an arena in Pittsburgh, where he grew up. His guests included big names, like singer Jelly Roll, comedian Shane Gillis and wrestler Jey Uso, among others. Maybe McAfee sets his sights on New Year's Eve and tries to create his own franchise, like a modern day Dick Clark or a counter to Ryan Seacrest and Anderson Cooper as the ball drops. McAfee could use his WWE instincts to find new rivals. He likes to be the one counter-programming.
USA Today
an hour ago
- USA Today
NBA Finals Game 3 winners and losers: Pacers D contains SGA, Thunder turnovers are costly
NBA Finals Game 3 winners and losers: Pacers D contains SGA, Thunder turnovers are costly Show Caption Hide Caption Shaq talks NBA Finals matchup and NBA on TNT Shaquille O'Neal joins Sports Seriously to talk about all things NBA and his upcoming Netflix docu-series 'Power Moves'. Sports Seriously The Indiana Pacers are two wins away from their first-ever NBA title. Behind a second quarter spark and a barrage from its bench, Indiana controlled the Oklahoma City Thunder on June 11 in the pivotal Game 3 of the NBA Finals, 116-107. Backup Pacers shooting guard Bennedict Mathurin led all players with 27 points, while Tyrese Haliburton added 22 and Pascal Siakam chipped in 21. And for the Pacers, this was massive; when NBA Finals have been tied at 1-1, the winner of Game 3 has gone on to win the title 80.5% of the time. The Pacers are now 5-0 this postseason when coming off a loss. They still have not trailed in any of the four series they have played these playoffs. Here are the winners and losers from the crucial Game 3 of the 2025 NBA Finals between the Pacers and Thunder: WINNERS Bennedict Mathurin, T.J. McConnell and the Pacers bench The Pacers' bench, overall, was outstanding, yes. They outscored Oklahoma City's reserves by a margin of 49-18. But two players, above all, lifted Indiana and were key in a second quarter run that changed the course of the game. Bennedict Mathurin led all players with 27 points on an absurd 9-of-12 shooting night — outscoring the entire Thunder bench — in 22:24. T.J. McConnell scored 10 timely points, but his five steals, three of them off inbounds passes, and five assists invigorated Indiana. Simply put, the Pacers' bench won them this game. 'Those guys were tremendous,' Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said after the game. 'T.J. just brought a competitive will to the game. Mathurin jumped in there and was immediately aggressive and got the ball in the basket. This is the kind of team we are: we need everybody to be ready. ... 'This is how we've got to do it, we've got to do it as a team.' For at least one night, the Indiana defense was better It looked, at least for one game, that it was the Pacers who were the No. 1 defense in the NBA. Indiana put forth a monstrous team effort, particularly on NBA Most Valuable Player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, sending multiple players at him, swarming and swatting at the ball when he had it in vulnerable spots. After Game 2, Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said of Gilgeous-Alexander that 'you can mark down 34 points before (the Thunder) even get on the plane.' Perhaps it was a subtle way of sending a message to his players, but Indiana held SGA to 10 points fewer than that, on 9-of-20 shooting. The Pacers rotated players on Gilgeous-Alexander and put full-court pressure on him basically the entire game, and the spike in energy appeared to tire Gilgeous-Alexander, especially late. He had just three attempts in the fourth quarter and did not register an assist 'Their overall tone was better than ours for the majority of the game,' Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said after the game. Tyrese Haliburton finds his shot — early In Games 1 and 2, Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton had combined for just nine first half points. On Wednesday night, Haliburton had scored 12 on 5-of-8 shooting, adding seven assists, before intermission. It set the tone. When Haliburton — who finished with 22 points, 11 assists and nine rebounds — is aggressive and gets his shot, the Pacers tend to win. This season, they are 20-1 when he scores at least 20 points and dishes out at least 10 assists. LOSERS Thunder offense sputters without massive SGA game Oklahoma City has actually had nice spurts of offense this series from role players. Luguentz Dort has shot 10-of-17 (66.7%) from 3. Aaron Wiggins popped off for 18 points in Game 2. Alex Caruso poured in 20 in Game 2. But this felt like a game that, for the Thunder to have a chance to win, Gilgeous-Alexander was going to have to go off and score 35 or more. Oklahoma City shot just 35.3% from the field in the fourth quarter. With players pressing some, the Thunder also committed five turnovers in the period. Thunder ball protection The steals off the inbounds were indicative of a larger issue for Oklahoma City: the turnovers were debilitating. 'They sucked,' Jalen Williams said. 'Just bad, unforced turnovers.' Indiana had lost the turnover battles in Games 1 and 2 by 19 combined. But Wednesday night, the Thunder were more careless with the ball, committing 19 turnovers — compared to Indiana's 14. Not surprisingly, the Pacers won the battle in points off turnovers, 21-14. The decision to start Cason Wallace over Isaiah Hartenstein The Thunder — the team with the best record (68-14) in the NBA — had rolled through the NBA playoffs, going 12-4 before the start of the Finals. Center Isaiah Hartenstein had started each of those games, but Thunder coach Mark Daigneault opted to start Cason Wallace in all three games against the Pacers. It now seems like an overcorrection and perhaps even something of a panic move. Though it was just by two points, the Pacers outscored the Thunder in the paint for the first time this series, 50-48. Oklahoma City had carried a plus-20 advantage prior to Wednesday night. Keeping Indiana out of the paint and forcing them to settle for jump shots will be key for the Thunder in Game 4. Hartenstein, who played just 22 minutes and was not a factor, makes that prospect much easier. The biggest stories, every morning. Stay up-to-date on all the key sports developments with USA TODAY's sports newsletter. Your inbox will approve.
