Brunson Leads New York Knicks in Pounding of Pacers
The New York Knicks gave the Indiana Pacers a taste of their own medicine, Tuesday night as Jalen Brunson powered New York with a game-high 44 points in the Knicks one-sided 121-91 victory to grab a 3-2 series advantage.
The Knicks are now a win away from heading back to the NBA Eastern Conference Finals.
Despite the plethora of injuries the Knicks have endured this postseason, they still found a way to fight back from a blowout defeat over the weekend in Game 4, by playing the brand of basketball that has brought them to this spot: nailing perimeter shots and playing fast and loose offensively.
Trailing the Pacers early by the count of 16-9, Josh Hart’s 25-foot three pointer lit a charge into the Madision Square Garden crowd and the Knicks themselves. New York used that shot of momentum to string together an impressive 22-9 run that saw the score totally flip to 31-25 in favor of the Knicks.
As the Knicks continued to knock down shots, Pacers Head Coach Rick Carlisle wound up calling three different time outs in an attempt to settle his team down. It didn’t work.
New York opened the second half on an 8-1 run thanks to Brunson scoring on three different possessions that pushed New York’s lead to 13, 46-33.
Indiana was able to cut the Knicks lead down to eight points in the third quarter, but huge three-pointers by Brunson and Myles McBride keyed a 17-0 run as the Knicks to trounce Pacers 89-64 with 3:13 to go on the third quarter, all but ending the competitive nature of Game 5.
Aside from Brunson’s 44 point effort, Josh Hart and Alec Burks both finished 18 points, while McBride dished out 17 points on his own.
The series shifts back to Indiana on Friday as the Knicks try to seal the one more time.
