In Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals at Indianapolis, Karl-Anthony Towns defeated the Indiana Pacers 106-100 in the final game of the season by collecting a game-high 20 points in the fourth quarter and collecting a game-high 15 rebounds.
The Knicks were kept in the series by the big fourth quarter, which was just the second time a New York player had scored 20 points in a quarter in a playoff game. In Game 1 of the conference semifinals last year, Jalene Brunson set the franchise record with 21 in a quarter against the Pacers.
Towns said on Sunday, “I was going to make sure I seized the opportunity when I had the opportunity to do what I do in the fourth.” To give our team a chance to win, I merely wanted to go there. I’m happy to be able to accomplish that.
Towns gave New York an 87-85 lead in the first three: 58 of the fourth quarter by scoring 15 points that seemed to flirt with overheating. The Knicks needed, however, because of his offensive explosion.
Tom Thibodeau, the coach of New York, praised Karl-Anthony Towns, who played him for less than 28 minutes in Game 2’s 114-109 loss. He can score three levels by playing back to the basket and being comfortable at the 3-point line, putting it on the floor, and playing it. It’s a big plus for us as long as he doesn’t get aggressive.
On Tuesday night in Indianapolis, New York will attempt to end the best-of-seven series at 2-2.
Brunson described the series as “unpredictable.” No lead is undoubtedly safe. Both teams will continue to battle until the buzzer hits.
Despite shooting 6-of-18 on the night, Brunson added 23 points for New York, which rallied from a 20-point deficit in the second half. The third-seeded Knicks finished with 16 points, while Mikal Bridges added 15.
For Indiana, which won the series with two road victories, fourth-seeded Indiana scored 20 points and Myles Turner had 19. The Pacers, who only had 42 second-half points, scored 17 points and TJ McConnell scored 12 each.
Haliburton remarked, “We didn’t do a good enough job of playing quickly.” A 42-point half is not our style of play, I thought, especially in the fourth period.
Knicks rally late
The Knicks rallied from 20-point deficits in each of their opening two games in Boston to win the series in six games, which was similar to the Eastern Conference semifinals.
With 1:17 left, Indiana held the lead for the majority of the game, but Turner and Siakam each needed two free throws to bring the score to 98. 20 seconds later, Brunson returned to lead New York by hitting a runner.
With 19.6 seconds left, the Knicks made two free throws before Haliburton answered with two foul shots with 9.7 seconds to tie Indiana at 102-100.
With 8.1 seconds left, Hart added two more free throws to the game’s eight-point lead, which he added with two more.
Towns ran out of town in the fourth quarter after falling 15 short in the third and 80-70 in the fourth, but Towns stayed put.
The Knicks took the team’s first lead since the first quarter, 87-85, at 8:02 of the fourth quarter, thanks to a three-point play by Towns.
With 5:10 left, Towns scored a 30-foot, step-back 3-pointer from Towns that gave the Knicks a 94-90 lead.
In the game, the Knicks made 43.6 percent of their shots from behind the arc, compared to 11 of those made.
Indiana shot 44.2 percent from the field, including the shaky 5-of-25 from 3-point range. With a 16-2 edge in fast-break points, the Pacers made a stellar transition.
However, when Towns couldn’t slow them down in the final quarter, Indiana was outscored 36-20.
He “made some significant plays for them,” Towns said. When we needed stops, we couldn’t. And offensively, our usual pop didn’t exist. We didn’t move the ball as frequently as we would like.
Halftime, the Pacers led by 58-45. In the second quarter, India racked up 13 straight points, giving them the biggest lead. With 3:20 left in the half, Aliburton added a 3-pointer and a steal for a quick dunk to make it 55-35.
Source: Aljazeera
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