Knicks can only take one game at a time against Pacers
Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton shoots the ball past Knicks guard Miles McBride, left, during the second half of Game 4 of the NBA Eastern Conference finals in Indianapolis on Tuesday. Credit: AP/Michael Conroy
Admit it: You’re not ready for it to be over.
No matter how hopeless it looks, no matter how painful it was to watch the Knicks get throttled by the Indiana Pacers in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals on Tuesday, you still believe — or at least still want to believe — the Knicks have the ability to made a heroic effort in what very well could be their final game of the season Thursday night.
The odds right now don’t look very good. The Knicks looked gassed, outclassed and sloppy in the 130-121 loss that gave the Pacers a 3-1 lead in the series. To get to the NBA Finals, they would have to win three in a row, starting with Game 5 at Madison Square Garden.
“We’ve been a team that kind of found a way to do the impossible,” Karl-Anthony Towns said in a postgame news conference in Indiana shortly before the team flew home. “It’s been a testament to our whole playoff run.”
Yes, it has, which is why Knicks fans seem to be in a state of shock that it all could end as soon as Thursday night.
Wasn’t it just a little more than a week ago that the city had gone mad with Knicks fever? Wasn’t it just a little more than a week ago that fans mobbed the street outside of Madison Square Garden after watching the Knicks topple the supposedly unbeatable Boston Celtics in just six games? Wasn’t it just a little more than a week ago that New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced that all 15 players had gotten a street named after them?
Yes, it might have been a little too much, a little too early. The Knicks, after all, were only halfway to an NBA title. Still, they were further along than any Knicks team in 25 years. And, if the Knicks could topple the mighty defending champions, they ought to be able to get by the Pacers, a team they had beat two out of three times in the regular season, right?
But then came Game 1 at Madison Square Garden, that ugly, history-making game that will forever be remembered as the Choke 2.0. Until the final minute of regulation in that 138-135 overtime loss, the Knicks were in charge of both the game and the series. They believed they were better than the Pacers, and until the final 58 seconds of regulation they were.
Though the Knicks did pull out a win in Game 3 to save themselves from a possible sweep, they never really seemed to bounce back from that loss.
Jalen Brunson, a superhero through the first two rounds, has been out-clutched by Tyrese Haliburton. When the score is within five points or less in the final five minutes, he’s shooting just 33% with three turnovers, one assist and no three-pointers. Haliburton, by contrast, is shooting 57% with four assists and one turnover.
There’s been plenty of blame to go around though.
Mikal Bridges, who came up with huge defensive plays in Boston, has had a terrible series. He has both struggled to guard Haliburton and, in Game 4, missed shot after shot. Josh Hart, often lauded as the heart and soul of the Knicks, turned the ball over five times in Game 4. OG Anunoby has had a hard time in the series against Pascal Siakam. Towns had a huge fourth quarter offensively in the Knicks’ only win but continues to be a defensive liability.
All of the Knicks are better than they have shown in this series, and now they have a chance to show it to their home crowd. It’s a chance to come up with their first win of the series at Madison Square Garden.
“We’re going home. I’ve never known this team to quit,” Hart said. “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.”
Only 13 teams have ever come back from a 3-1 deficit to win a series. Right now, the Knicks need one win to stay alive. We can worry about what comes next after that.
Barbara Barker is an award-winning columnist and features writer in the sports department at Newsday. She has covered sports in New York for more than 20 years.
