Coach Rick Carlisle questioned the officials after the Indiana Pacers trailed the New York Knicks 2-0 in their series. He posed a direct challenge to his players as they were about to lose Friday’s Game 6.
Following their thirty-point defeat in Game 5 in New York, Carlisle ripped into his squad, demanding that they increase their focus, intensity, and technique. Then, on Thursday, he put them through a taxing film session where they watched clip after clip of the Knicks humiliatingly defeating the Pacers.
With a 116-103 victory in Game 6, the Pacers leveled the series at 3-3 and set up a Game 7 on Sunday at Madison Square Garden. The seasoned coach received a great response from his young team.
The Pacers won the rebounding battle by 12 in Game 6 after dropping it by a massive 24 in Game 5. In Game 6, the Pacers turned the ball over just nine times, compared to a devastating eighteen times in Game 5. Additionally, the Pacers outscored the Knicks by 24 points in Game 6 after being defeated by 26 points in the paint in Game 5.
Tyrese Haliburton of the Pacers, a guard with nine assists and fifteen points, remarked, “I think the biggest thing was that coaches challenged our effort,” “We had some boneheaded things happen [in Game 5]. … He just really challenged our group [players] 1-15 on how can we be better.”
The Knicks’ post-loss focus was not only on the upcoming Game 7 but also on valued player Josh Hart, who toiled through the game until eventually making an appearance in the fourth quarter after suffering an abdominal injury while attempting to grab a rebound in the first quarter on Friday night. Even though he played close to forty minutes and pulled down eight rebounds, he was not the same powerful player as usual.
Hart, who at one point in the series played 144 straight minutes, scared his teammates when he needed to leave the game twice in order to stretch and apply heating pads to his left side of the abdomen. Under his clothing, Knicks trainers put together a web-like arrangement of kinesio tape in an attempt to provide him with some respite.
Hart departed the game without talking to media, thus Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau was unable to provide an update following the contest. To a man, though, his Knicks teammates stated that they anticipated he would play despite Sunday afternoon’s short turnaround.
“I would assume he’s going to play,” Jalen Brunson, a star player for the Knicks, stated. “It’s Game 7.”
Miles McBride stated, “Him asking out is not a good sign, but I think he’ll bounce back,”
“Knowing him, he’ll do whatever to play,” Isaiah Hartenstein remarked. “If his leg’s not falling off, he’ll do whatever to play.”
Another question is how well Hart might be able to play.
Attackers on Hart and the other Knicks interior defenders included center Myles Turner (17 points) and forward Pascal Siakam (25 points in his best game of the series).
“It was just activity. We played harder tonight, which was a must,” Carlisle remarked. “We moved the ball better and we got more rebounds, and that’s obviously a big key to the series.”
For the last two weeks, Brunson has been at the focus of a lot of the teams’ planning and competition. The Pacers’ strategy of switching defenders and exposing the Knicks’ weaknesses through lineup changes has essentially shaped the series.
In contrast to Game 5, when the Knicks were able to consistently break Brunson away from his grip, Aaron Nesmith, who has drawn the starting assignment in the previous four games, was more aggressive in his fighting over and around screens. Particularly early in the game on Friday, Brunson had less space, and even when he did receive clear shots, he misfired.
After making his first two baskets in the opening quarter, Brunson missed his next eleven, for a 2-of-13 shooting clip that represented the worst half of his postseason career.
Although the Knicks were already behind more than 20 points when he started, he rebounded in the second half and managed to break free from Nesmith, scoring 26 of his 31 points and making 9 of his 13 attempts.
T.J. McConnell, a reserve guard for the Pacers who scored 15 points off the bench, contributed to the attack on Brunson as well.
According to Brunson, “they try to make things difficult.” “And I have to adjust as well. Show me different looks and I have to do a better job of reading it.”
However, the Pacers didn’t believe they had Brunson figured out. In this series, he has already scored 40 points twice at home, and the majority of the Pacers’ star players will be present for their first Game 7.
“We gotta brace for Sunday. We know the kind of effort [Brunson] is going to bring on Sunday,” Carlisle remarked. “And we must be ready.”
