At 3:30 a.m. Beijing time on May 13, the matchup of the NBA playoffs Eastern Conference semifinals is in full swing, and the Indiana Pacers continue to sit at home to face the New York Knicks. Prior to this game, the Knicks led 2-1. This season's Knicks team is indeed not easy, their book strength is not the top among the strong teams, the lineup is scarred, and the three rotation players in the squad are all reimbursed for the season, Randle, Mitchell Robinson and Bogdanovic. In such a situation, the Knicks had to hard-core a few cores and play more time. The three starters, Brunson, Hart and Anunoby, have played an average of more than 40 minutes per game since the playoffs. Among them, Hart played an average of 46.4 minutes per game, with less than two minutes of rest.
Hart, a role player, is really amazing, not only an iron man, but also a rebounding monster, his playoff total rebounds lead the league, averaging 13.3 rebounds per game, 15+ rebounds in two consecutive games, team history comparable to Gorilla Ewing. The key is that Hart is not an interior player, nor a forward, but a 1.93-meter guard, and it can only be said that his rebounding sense is too sensitive. In addition to Hart, there are also surprise players among the Knicks' role players, DiVincenzo has performed quite well in recent games, since the second round series, he has averaged 29.3 points per game, 56.3% three-point shooting, and 6 three-pointers per game, Brunson is also a helper. For the Pacers, as the dark horses of the East, they are also expected to drag the series into the battle of Tianwang Mountain at home.
In this game, the two sides are in the starting lineup, the Knicks are sending Brunson, DiVincenzo, Hart, Hartenstein, Achiuwa, and the Pacers are sending Siakam, Haliburton, Turner, Nesmith and Nembhard. At the beginning of the first quarter of the game, Hatten jumped the ball to win, the Knicks took the lead in getting the ball, Harden received the ball under the basket and destroyed the dunk, scoring the first goal of the game, Nembhard flew to the basket to open the door for the Pacers, Haliburton chased a large three-pointer and hit it, Achiuwa easily wiped the board inside and also succeeded, Siakam forced the throw into the net in the restricted area, Haliburton scored another goal with a big empty three-point shot, and then went straight to the basket to stage a one-handed split. The Pacers started the game dominating and quickly took a double-digit lead.
Achiuwa hit a dunk to help stop the Knicks' bleeding, but the good times were short-lived, and they fell into a long scoring drought for a while, and the Pacers seized the opportunity to play another small surge to take the lead to more than 20 points. At the end of the first quarter, the Pacers led the Knicks by 20 points, 34-14. At the beginning of the second quarter of the game, Brunson stopped urgently, and made a low-handed layup to help the Knicks take the lead, Jackson stepped on the snow without a trace to pick up the offensive rebound, and there was a strong rebound, McBride did not hesitate to pull out his three-point dry shot, and it blossomed directly, Siakam turned around and made a backward jumper, and then flew to the paint area to make a small throw, Jackson rampage against the layup to make a foul, standing on the free throw line and making two free throws, Siakam strode to the front court and scored two points.
Although the Knicks have begun to warm up in the second quarter of the game, the offensive firepower on the Pacers' side is still better, and the point difference is still being widened, and the Pacers lead the Knicks by 28 points 69-41 at halftime. At the beginning of the second half of the game, Yibian fought again, Nembhard strode to the basket and scored a layup, opening the prelude to the third quarter of the game, Nesmith sprinted to the basket in the wind, and scored a layup with a low hand, Brunson started to break through with a foot of the throttle, and the paint area threw a small throw to pick down two points, Siakam received the ball in the restricted area and put the basket to score a goal easily, and then steal the fast-break dragon breakthrough layup, Haliburton's chasing three-point shot suddenly hit a cold arrow, and then broke into the interior to complete the tomahawk split, Turner arc top three-point confident shot through the heart of the basket.
The difference between the two teams is still expanding, and the Pacers, who are playing at home, are completely high, and the difference once came to more than 40 points. In the final quarter, the main force of the Pacers has clocked out of work in the third quarter, and the Knicks also conceded defeat in advance, and all of them were replaced with substitute lineups, and the game entered garbage time early, and the outcome completely lost suspense, and in the end, the Pacers defeated the Knicks by 32 points 121-89, and the big score came to a 2-2 draw, and the next battle of Tianwang Mountain was about to start. It is worth mentioning that the Pacers led by 28 points at halftime in this game, which also broke their all-time record for a playoff halftime lead.
In terms of statistics, on the Knicks' side, Brunson only had 18 points, 3 rebounds and 5 assists, Burks had 20 points and 5 rebounds, McBride had 16 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists, Achiuwa had 8 points and 6 rebounds, and DiVincenzo had 7 points. On the Pacers' side, Haliburton had 20 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists, Siakam had 14 points and 4 rebounds, McConnell had 15 points, 4 rebounds and 10 assists, Turner had 13 points and 5 rebounds, Toppin had 14 points, and Nesmith had 8 points and 12 rebounds.