From Jalen Brunson’s impressive first-quarter start to chants of “Knicks in 7!” raining down from the Madison Square Garden crowd, Game 5 on Thursday night belonged to New York. And just maybe, this series still can too.
Brunson scored 32 points, Karl-Anthony Towns added 24 points and 13 rebounds through a bruised left knee, and the New York Knicks extended their season—and their Eastern Conference Finals run—with a commanding 111-94 win over the Indiana Pacers in Game 5.
With the victory, the Knicks trimmed Indiana’s series lead to 3-2 and forced a pivotal Game 6 on Saturday night in Indianapolis.
“We weren’t going out like that,” Brunson said. “Not in this building. Not tonight.”
The Knicks finally won on their home floor after dropping the first two games at MSG, becoming the first team since 2007 to stay alive in a conference finals after falling behind 0-2 at home. Now, they’re two wins away from becoming just the 14th team in NBA history to overcome a 3-1 series deficit.
Brunson, who was outplayed in Game 4 by Tyrese Haliburton, responded with a franchise-record 21st postseason game of 30 or more points in a Knicks uniform. He set the tone early, dropping 14 points on 6-of-9 shooting in the opening quarter as New York took a 27-23 lead — a far cry from the 43 points they surrendered in the first 12 minutes of Game 4.
“Jalen is the heart and soul of this team,” Towns said. “He set the pace, and we just followed.”
Towns, who was questionable to play after hurting his knee in Game 4, filled the scoring void in the second quarter with 12 points while Brunson cooled off. The Knicks went into halftime up 13, 58-45, and never looked back.
Brunson came out firing in the third, scoring New York’s first eight points of the period. The lead ballooned to 20 midway through the quarter. Indiana briefly cut the deficit in half, but a thunderous 12-0 Knicks run, capped by a Brunson four-point play, sent the Garden into a frenzy and stretched the lead back to 22.
Haliburton, who had dominated Game 4 with a 32-point triple-double, was held to just eight points and six assists. New York’s defense, maligned for allowing a 43-point opening quarter in their previous loss, held the Pacers to just 45 points in the first half and 40.5% shooting overall — Indiana’s lowest output of the postseason.
“They punched us in the mouth tonight,” Haliburton admitted. “We’ve got to respond at home.”
Bennedict Mathurin led the Pacers with 23 points off the bench, but it wasn’t enough to counterbalance the Knicks’ energy and physicality. Indiana’s six-game road winning streak came to a halt in what was their most lopsided playoff defeat this spring.
Now the series returns to Indiana, where the Pacers have another chance to clinch their second NBA Finals appearance in franchise history. But the Knicks, buoyed by the energy of a city that hasn’t seen a Finals berth since 1999, believe momentum has swung.
“This is what it’s all about,” said Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau. “We’re still here. We’ve still got fight.”
If New York can steal Game 6 on the road, all bets are off for a decisive Game 7 back at the Garden — and those chants just might come true.
