As they head home in their Eastern Conference finals, the Indiana Pacers are only halfway to winning the NBA, but they might prefer to stay that way.
The Pacers defeated the New York Knicks 114-109 on Friday night, scoring a career-high 39 points.
The first two games of the series at the Knicks’ Madison Square Garden home arena result in the Pacers’ 2-0 playoff lead.
Indiana, which will be rocking all day long with the Indianapolis 500 being run that afternoon, will host Game 3. The Pacers can only hope to be as good there as they have been on the road, where they have won six straight games since losing in Game 3 to Milwaukee.
There is still a long way to go, Siakam said, and it will only get tougher.
The Pacers, who were their only NBA Finals appearance, lost to the Lakers in 2000 and had 16 points led by Myles Turner, who added 14 points and 11 assists.
Siakam had more than five baskets on a night when no one else on the Pacers’ high-scoring team had more than five. He went 15 for 23 from the field.
Coach Rick Carlisle referred to it as a “special game.” He “was the guy that got us going and through some challenging stretches” in the first half.
The Knicks need a quick turnaround to avoid making their first conference finals appearance in 25 years, according to Jalen Brunson, who added 36 points and 11 assists. After a crushing defeat in Game 1, they were much better at defending, but they were unable to recover from a poor fourth quarter and a 138-140 overtime deficit.
The Knicks had 20 points and seven rebounds each, but Towns only managed 28 minutes as Tom Thibodeau extended his lineup with backup Mitchell Robinson, a much better defender who collected nine rebounds.
No team has won a series in the conference finals after losing their first two games at home.
It’s a tie ballgame going into the fourth quarter. We simply need to make better plays, which will result in more victories,” Thibodeau said.
After three, the Pacers broke through to lead 94-85 with Siakam’s 3-pointer with nineteen minutes remaining. Every time the Knicks gained momentum, they would quickly lower the margin, and with 2:45 left, Siakam added another basket to make it 110-100.
With 14 seconds left, Josh Hart’s basket gave the Knicks nine straight points, 110-109. The Pacers made two free throws, Brunson hit a 3-pointer successfully, and Turner added two more.
The Pacers’ 28-22 victory in their 50th playoff game was more closely reminiscent of the rivals’ defensive struggles of the 1990s than the shootout two nights prior, which the rivals had won.
Source: Aljazeera
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