NEW YORK — True to form, Knicks Nation was convincing and sharp in their Game 7 loss to the Indiana Pacers at Madison Square Garden.
“(Screaming) Scrubs,” one sane fan said as he walked away from MSG in the final minutes of a 130-108 loss.
The home fans were very disappointed. No one on this island believes the Pacers can make it here, and the Knicks, as depleted as they are, can continue to grab big as long as Jalen Brunson is healthy and New York can compete for a conference finals berth in a winner-take-all format. The offensive rebound. ESPN’s reporting plans are clearly clear. But the Pacers put their heads down and showed what they’ve learned and how they’ve grown over the past few months. They yelled at the Knicks and their wealthy fans in celebrity spats. They noted that few national reporters were present this season. Their coach seemed to take pleasure in pointing out the disrespect his team was being subjected to.
Tyrese Haliburton wore a Reggie Miller hoodie to the postgame press conference, where Reggie went into classic “Knicks choke” mode and threw the ball Tribute to the greatest player in franchise history, terrible child In Gotham.
“I just want to feel comfortable on the plane,” Haliburton said, tongue firmly planted in cheek.
Tyrese Haliburton wearing a Reggie Miller sweatshirt after winning Game 7 at the Garden 😈 pic.twitter.com/TkuOc3t1zu
— Indiana Pacers (@Pacers) May 19, 2024
Although they broke the previous franchise record for highest field goal percentage in Game 7, they shot 67% from the field in this game – 53 points on 79 shots! — After shooting 13 of 24 from 3-point range, Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle came back time and time again to the defense his team plays when it matters most.
“They changed the script,” Carlisle said. “They won the series with guts, guts and physicality. Pressed 94 feet. That’s how we beat Milwaukee (in the first round). You have to give these guys a lot of credit, not a complete change, But a very significant change in the attitude toward defense, the disdain for defense, the importance of defense and what they did today. I don’t want to create anything about shooting.
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In fact, the changes in the Pacers since Indy’s abysmal defensive performance in the first month of the season have been profound. It takes hard work of staying connected and raising your voice on defense. But it also required Indiana to step out of its comfort zone and put all its chips in the middle of the standings, acquiring Pascal Siakam from Toronto in mid-January in a three-team deal that also included New Orleans , but after these playoffs there’s no guarantee that the two-time All-Star and rising unrestricted free agent will stick around.
“My whole focus going into the game was to get everybody involved,” Siakam said. Competitor. “I was aggressive, just to make sure everyone calmed down. Once everyone calmed down, (Haliburton) took over. He can do it with the best players in the game. And, Obviously, the back and forth keeps you going.
Siakam hit his first five shots and scored 20 points. Haliburton hit 3-pointers in the first quarter, including a 26-foot 3-pointer to the left wing in transition that gave him 11 points in less than two minutes. The Pacers scored 39 points in the first quarter and led 70-55 at halftime. The integrity of the Pacers’ offensive output is surprising.
“It’s just old-school thinking, you can’t play so fast in the playoffs,” Haliburton said. “But I think given the chance, you can do it. If we can stop, of course.
But Carlisle was right. Indiana may have been better in the series against the Knicks in terms of defensive numbers, but given the stakes of Game 7 on the road, this was Indiana’s defense at its best. Brunson made just 6 of 17 shots in the second half before leaving the game with a broken left hand. TJ McConnell was once again disruptive on the bench. After being thoroughly outrebounded in the first two games of this series, Indy has outrebounded New York in four of the last five games and won all of them. Four games.
(Speaking of which: Man, the NBA is so bad at fixing games! It put Boston-New York on a platter loaded with potentially sweet ratings gold, including the No. 1 and No. 8 TV markets . In over fifty years, New York has never won a championship! If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times – because this time of year a lot of you will be spouting “Conspiracy”: If the NBA’s mission is to rig playoff games so it can The biggest market to get the biggest superstars out of every postseason, it’s truly and uniformly terrible. Make better writers, people. What is Eric Bischoff up to these days?
Indiana’s defensive transformation began in December as Haliburton’s star rose nationally, reaching the season tournament finals. But even so, Indy fell back and was defeated by the Lakers in the IST finals in Las Vegas. The Pacers had Los Angeles’ best chance, but they realized what they were doing wasn’t good enough. Haliburton was impressed with the Lakers’ attention to detail on defense and the level of attention they paid to Indiana scouts.
“I think the most important thing is experience,” Pacers center Myles Turner said. “We have a lot of guys who haven’t played high-level basketball or big games. In-season tournaments, all these games, it feels like there’s a heightened sense of urgency. We knew how good our defense was going to be when the year started, but we all came together and we Tell yourself, if we can go from 30 to average, we can be a great team.
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The day after Christmas, Carlisle blew up his starting lineup, starting Andrew Nembhard, Aaron Nesmith and Jalen Smith alongside Haliburton and Turner. This group has a net rating of -4.6 and a defensive rating of 120.8. It’s not great by any means, but at least the defense isn’t bleeding as much as the previous two months. Once Siakam took over, the Pacers’ defense really took off. In 25 games with Haliburton-Nembhard-Nesmith-Siakam-Turner, the Pacers have a defensive rating of 107.2 and a net rating of 6.4.
“We’ve done a lot of soul-searching,” McConnell said.
“I think it was overshadowed by the vicious offense we played, but it wasn’t good enough,” McConnell said. “You don’t get to this point without turning things around defensively. Kudos to the coaching staff and everyone… Just look in the mirror and get better at this.
Acquiring Siakam would not only mean trading three first-round picks to the Toronto Raptors — two this season and one in 2026 — but also trading veteran forward Bruce Brown, who would help the Denver Nuggets. Indiana signed Bruce Brown to great fanfare last offseason after the team won a championship. Brown isn’t a good fit for Indy, but he has championship pedigree. Of course, the same goes for Siakam, who helped the Raptors win a championship ring in 2019. Siakam is not.
In addition to Haliburton’s rise, Siakam has been impressed with the way the Pacers do things (although that’s also important). With president of basketball operations Kevin Pritchard and general manager Chad Buchanan, Indy has veteran front-office stability and a clear understanding of how to build around Haliburton Have a clear vision. Carlisle is one of the Pacers’ greatest tacticians and always seems to get the most out of his lineup.
“After the in-season tournament, we made a decision as a staff that we needed to do better,” Carlisle said. “… I just told our guys we’re going to stay the course and we’re going to get better. We’ve made historic strides offensively, but in order to get to where we are and where we want to be in the next round and in the future goals, what we’re doing offensively is not sustainable if you can’t defend and rebound consistently.
The task of beating top-seeded and well-rested Boston, starting Tuesday at TD Garden, is Indiana’s biggest challenge yet. The Celtics may be without center Kristaps Porzingis to start the series, but they are otherwise healthy. They’ve been the best team in the league all season. Their path to the conference finals was relatively easy.
However, the Pacers play on team money and are far from dominating the sports headlines around town. Next Sunday will be Game 108 of the Indianapolis 500, and a rookie guard for the WNBA’s Indiana Fever is clearly drawing some attention.
The Pacers will continue to fly under the radar and love it.
(Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
