Knicks pushed to brink of elimination after sloppy Game 4 loss to Pacers
Knicks guard Josh Hart looks up from the floor after his sixth foul during the second half of Game 4 of the NBA Eastern Conference finals against the Indiana Pacers in Indianapolis on Tuesday. Credit: AP/Michael Conroy
INDIANAPOLIS — In the fourth quarter, facing another of the holes they’d dug themselves, the Knicks believed Tuesday night in Game 4 that they could conjure up the magic one more time.
To do that, they have relied on the talents of their two offensive stars, Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns, to save them. But on this night, the two could not mount the heroics. And with all of the other problems, they could not pull out another comeback, falling, 130-121, to the Indiana Pacers at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, to put their season on the brink, down three games to one in the Eastern Conference finals.
The Knicks have thrived on adversity, lived to silence the doubters and critics. If that’s truly the case, they are exactly where they want to be now.
“We’ve been a team that kind of found a way to do the impossible,” Towns said. “We see the impossible and we just keep fighting. It’s been a testament to our whole playoff run. This time we happen to be in the fight for our lives, our season. And it starts the next game. Taking it game by game. looking ahead and just looking at the next quarter and the next game.”
“I mean nothing else matters at this point,” Brunson said. “You’ve gotta give it your all. It’s that simple.”
After it seemed as if the Knicks had figured something out to battle back from a 20-point deficit in Game 3, the Knicks in Game 4 were mind-numbingly sloppy, lost on defense, outworked and outplayed by the Pacers in every aspect of the game.
But what was most troubling was that in the biggest of moments, the Knicks’ biggest stars came up empty. Brunson finished with 31 points, but was scoreless in the fourth quarter until a layup with 16 seconds left and Towns, who scored 24 points, had just two in the final quarter, too.
The Knicks will now host the Pacers at Madison Square Garden on Thursday to try to stay alive and need three straight wins to reach the NBA Finals.
“We didn’t match their pace and the inspiration, too,” Towns said. “We just didn’t match what they came to do tonight to start the game and in true fashion to our whole playoff run, we put ourself in a deficit, got ourselves out of the deficit and usually we feel good about us in a close game going into the fourth quarter and showing our resilience. But you get burned if you put yourself in that position too many times. Tonight was one of those nights where we got burned. We put ourselves again in a deficit. We think coming into the fourth quarter that we are going to find that one trick to get us to that win. We just didn’t have that magic tonight.”
None of the lineup changes, the rotational machinations or strategic decisions really mattered. The Knicks’ defense was absent much of the night and the offense piled up 17 turnovers as mindless passes ruined opportunities. The defense that had slowed the Pacers down Sunday instead got outscored 22-9 on fast-break points Tuesday.
The Knicks just had no answers anywhere as they tried different combinations but could not find something that worked. Tyrese Haliburton had 32 points, 15 assists and 12 rebounds to lead Indiana. Pascal Siakam had 30 points.
The Knicks came back from a 10-point hole entering the fourth quarter Sunday, but as they entered the fourth down 102-91 Tuesday, they never seemed able to mount any sort of rally. Towns, the offensive star of Game 3 in the fourth quarter, had two fouls, one turnover, no field goals and two points in the fourth this time. His follow off a Brunson miss with 4:24 remaining cut the deficit to 115-109.
The Knicks chipped away but could not get the stops after each basket, never getting closer than six. Aaron Nesmith drove into Towns, the collision sending Towns to the floor, where he remained for a long time as trainers tended to him. He was called for a foul, but Tom Thibodeau challenged the call and on review it was ruled that Myles Turner had pushed Towns into Nesmith, giving the Knicks the ball with 2:11 to play, and Towns remained in the game.
But Bridges misfired twice and, as the Pacers inbounded the ball under their basket to Siakam, Hart was whistled for his sixth foul with 1:44 to play. Siakam sank a pair and the lead was up to nine for Indiana.
“We’re going home,” Hart said. “I’ve never known this team to quit. I know the character of the guys in this locker room. Obviously our back is against the wall, but we’re still competitors, and we’re gonna keep fighting until the series is over. I would say we’re disappointed with the position we’re in right now, but we don’t quit.”
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.
