Brunson, Towns bring Knicks to 111-94 success that cuts Pacers’
NEW YORK CITY (AP) From Jalen Brunson’s sizzling start to the “Knicks in 7! Knicks in 7!” chants at the surface, this was New york city’s night.
Perhaps it can still be the Knicks’ series.
Brunson scored 32 points, Karl-Anthony Towns added 24 points and 13 rebounds regardless of a bruised left knee and the Knicks stayed alive in the Eastern Conference finals by beating the Indiana Pacers 111-94 on Thursday in Game 5.
The Knicks won on their home flooring for the very first time in the series and avoided the Pacers from making the 2nd NBA Finals trip in franchise history. Indiana will attempt once again Saturday night in the house.
“It’s a testament to our group addressing the call,” Towns stated.
New York extended its first trip to the conference finals considering that 2000 and kept alive hopes of ending up being the 14th group to conquer a 3-1 deficit to win a series. No group has actually won a conference finals series after dropping the first 2 games at home.
2 nights after quiting 43 points in the first quarter, the Knicks held the Pacers to simply 45 in the first half and restricted Tyrese Haliburton, who had 32 points, 15 helps and 12 rebounds Tuesday, to just eight points and six assists.
Brunson, outplayed by his point guard counterpart Tuesday, rebounded with his franchise-record 21st postseason game of 30 or more points with the Knicks.
“Our backs protested the wall. So, I suggest, we’ve got to provide it whatever we got,” Brunson said.
Bennedict Mathurin scored 23 points off the bench for the Pacers, who had actually won 6 straight road games. Indiana shot simply 40.5% from the field in by far its lowest-scoring game of the postseason.
“We obviously didn’t have fun with the level of force that we needed to,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. “We lost the rebound fight. We lost the turnover fight. We didn’t shoot well. They had a lot to do with it. So, give them a great deal of credit and we’re going to have to play better.”
Brunson scored 14 on 6-for-9 shooting in the very first quarter as the Knicks held a 27-23 lead – giving up 20 fewer points than in the very first quarter of Video game 4, when they trailed 43-35.
Towns, who was questionable to play after harming his left knee in an accident late in Game 4, got the slack with 12 in the second, when Brunson was scoreless.
Brunson returned with the Knicks’ first 8 of the 3rd quarter as they opened a 20-point lead midway through the period. The Pacers cut that in half before New York gained back control with a 12-0 burst, highlighted by Brunson’s four-point play, to make it 86-64.
— This story has been corrected to reveal that Jalen Brunson had his 21st game with 30 or more points as a Knick. A previous variation stated that it was his 20th game.
— AP NBA: https://apnews.com/nba