Knicks stun Pacers with Game 3 comeback to get back in series
Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns reacts after scoring against the Indiana Pacers during the second half of Game 3 of the NBA Eastern Conference Finals on Sunday in Indianapolis. Credit: AP/Jeff Roberson
INDIANAPOLIS — In the end, the Knicks did what they have done so many times, fighting back from a huge deficit with Jalen Brunson providing the last-minute heroics. But how they got to that point might take a little bit longer to explain.
Tom Thibodeau often has said it doesn’t matter who starts the game, and maybe he has a point. After he opted for what felt like a panicked lineup change, what really mattered was how the Knicks finished.
With the season hanging by a thread, they fell behind by 20 points in the second quarter and then mounted a furious second-half rally with a mixture of odd lineups, unlikely contributions and a fourth-quarter explosion by Karl-Anthony Towns. He scored 20 of his 24 points in the period as the Knicks earned a 106-100 win at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
A loss would have put the Knicks in a 3-0 hole in the Eastern Conference finals, a deficit no team in NBA history has come back from. But with the comeback victory — the only kind of victory the Knicks seem comfortable with — they now trail 2-1 and will try to even the series here Tuesday night.
“It’s an emotional game, it’s a long game,” Jalen Brunson said. “Things can happen, things can not go your way. You can easily crash out or you can respond the right way. I got people in my corner, people on this team who believe in me and believe in us. The conversations that we had as a team, the encouragement and everything we do is important, especially throughout a 48-minute game. Just gotta continue to believe.”
The conversations began long before the game as Josh Hart went to Thibodeau and suggested a lineup change — removing himself from the starting lineup and inserting Mitchell Robinson. It was the first time all season that the Knicks changed their starting five without an injury sidelining one of the heavily used starters. Then Thibodeau began playing mad scientist, inserting Delon Wright and Landry Shamet into the rotation for the first time in the series and using eight five-man combinations that the Knicks had not used once this season.
“This was a conversation that we had, that I’ve had before,” Hart said. “Actually I mentioned, I talked to a couple of people about it before Game 6 [against Boston]. I was struggling with the matchup of Luke Kornet, wasn’t able to really figure that out. Game 6 had a pretty good game. But it was something that I’ve had in the back of my mind and I’ve always been willing to do.
“Down two [games], especially with how [Robinson] played last game, that was something that we had to do. And obviously that’s a group decision that really boils down to Thibs and myself . . . I don’t care. I don’t care if I start. I don’t care if I play 20 minutes. If we win, we win.
“Whoever won the championship five years ago, you have no idea who the starters are. You know that those guys won and they have that camaraderie and that connection for life. It doesn’t matter how many points you score, it doesn’t matter how many minutes you play. It doesn’t matter if you start. It depends on if you win, and at the end of the day, that’s the most important thing for me.”
If that was the mindset, it worked as the Knicks got contributions up and down the lineup Aside from Towns’ fourth-quarter dominance, Brunson had 23 points and Hart came off the bench to contribute eight points, 10 rebounds and four assists.
And maybe most surprising, after sending Brunson to the bench with his fifth foul with 7:03 left in the game, the Knicks played on without him until 1:37 remained with the score tied at 98. Brunson was struggling through one of his worst performances and the group on the floor was keeping the Knicks afloat. But he is the NBA Clutch Player of the Year and showed why, driving into the lane to give the Knicks the lead with 1:17 left.
He missed twice on the Knicks’ next possession with a chance to extend the lead to four, but Myles Turner misfired on a three-pointer and Hart hit two free throws with 19.6 seconds left to give the Knicks a 102-98 lead.
Tyrese Haliburton hit two free throws with 9.7 seconds left and the Knicks called timeout with a 102-100 lead. Brunson got the inbounds pass, was fouled with 8.1 seconds left and hit both free throws. After Pascal Siakam fired up a wild three-point attempt, Hart grabbed the rebound and sank two free throws with 2.6 seconds left, fittingly finishing the victory he didn’t start.
“Whatever gives your team the best chance to win,” Thibodeau said. “You guys always — I know you try to put everything into a box. I don’t work that way. People think I want a low-scoring game. No, I just want one more point than they have. I don’t care if it’s low-scoring, high-scoring, medium-scoring. I just wanna win. That’s the bottom line. Whatever gives us the best chance to win, that’s what we’re gonna do. And so, that’s what I felt was gonna give us the best chance to win tonight’s game, so that’s why we did it.”
Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
