At the most opportune of times, the Knicks got back to Knicks-ing and accused the Pacers of impersonating.
“They were talking, trying to be physical, basically trying to be our brand, our identity,” Donte DiVincenzo said. “And they were successful with it the last game. And we regrouped, we watched film and realized that’s not who we are.
“Then we came out tonight and that’s exactly who we are.”
What the Knicks are — at least when they’re at an ideal — is a force on the glass and a dogged defensive team with a sniper point guard to collect the points.
That all came together in Tuesday’s 121-91 breeze over the Pacers, with Jalen Brunson rediscovering his health and stardom.
He utterly outdueled a house-mouse quiet Tyrese Haliburton, dropping 44 points for a 3-2 series lead.
“They’ve shown it all year,” coach Tom Thibodeau said about the Knicks’ resilience. “That’s who they are. We still need one more win. We can’t be excited about it. Stay focused on the task at hand.”
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A win Friday in Indianapolis will send the Knicks to their first conference finals since 2000, and they could also land there with a win in Sunday’s Game 7 at MSG (if necessary).
They’ve already captured more playoff victories in this year (7) than any of the previous 23 Knicks seasons.
Thibodeau was an assistant with the Knicks during their last run to the conference finals — as well as the NBA Finals trip in 1999.
He sees similar character traits in the players now wearing orange and blue.
“Every team is a little different, but I think the commitment to each other, that’s similar. I think the toughness, that aspect of it is similar,” Thibodeau said. “But we still got a long way to go. Every year I felt with Patrick [Ewing] and John [Starks] and Larry [Johnson] and [Latrell] Sprewell and those guys, we always felt like we had a chance to win it, and we went deep every year if we were healthy.”
The 2024 Knicks aren’t healthy but still steamrolled the Pacers on Tuesday. They led for the final 39 minutes and by as many as 31, using an 18-0 run in the third quarter before breezing to the finish.
Dustups in the second and third quarters led to five techs combined — with Myles Turner needing to be separated from DiVincenzo and Isaiah Hartenstein shoving the face of Isaiah Jackson.
Then the game ended with fans chanting, “Knicks in six.”
“One thing I’ve learned in the playoffs is that one game does not have any effect on the next,” Brunson said. “Whether you lose by one or lose by 30, it has nothing to do with the next game. So, honestly when we’re leaving here tonight, it’s all about how we prepare for Game 6.”
The result and process to get there were reversals of Game 4, with the Knicks winning the rebounding battle Tuesday, 53-29.
There was also an important adjustment from Thibodeau, who pushed Miles McBride to the starting lineup to replace Precious Achiuwa.
The results couldn’t have been better. McBride not only scored 17 points, he pressed Haliburton on defense and held the Pacers All-Star to 13 points and five assists on just nine shots.
“We just thought that would give us our best chance,” Thibodeau said of the adjustment.
Haliburton wanted no part of MSG after dominating his home games.
“Momentum shifted,” he said. “They killed us on the glass better than they probably have any game all series. We just didn’t match that intensity level all night.”
Brunson, meanwhile, was back to his All-Star self. If there were any ill effects of the sore foot that hindered him since Game 2, it was difficult to identify.
He had 28 points by the break as the Knicks created more ball movement and certainly more possessions with elite offensive rebounding.
Brunson capped another brilliant postseason performance with a reverse and-1 layup in the fourth quarter to give the Knicks a 20-point lead.
He became the seventh player in NBA history with at least five 40-point games in a single postseason, joining an upper-crust list with LeBron James, Michael Jordan, Allen Iverson, Bernard King, Hakeem Olajuwon and Shaquille O’Neal.
“It is big shot after big shot,” Thibodeau said. “There’s never any excuse-making from him. He’s never talking about injuries. When you hear people talk about injuries, a lot of that is excuse-making. And he doesn’t do any of that. With him, it’s, ‘How can I be better?’
“He’s like a machine,” the coach added. “He’s locked in. He’s going to be ready for the next game, ready for the next game.”
The Knicks grabbed 20 offensive rebounds, including 12 from Hartenstein.
The center hauled in 17 boards overall. Josh Hart avenged his Game 4 dud with 18 points and 11 rebounds in 39 minutes.
Alec Burks continued his resurgence with 18 points off the bench. It all clicked at the right time.
