3-2 of shame! Brunson bombarded 44+7, Harry Burton was sluggish, only 5 of 9, the NBA miracle was born, and the Pacers had to recognize the reality!
Text: Lao Kan Kanqiu
Editor|Lao Kan Kanqiu
On May 15, Beijing time, the second round of the NBA playoffs ushered in the first group of Tianwang Mountain battles in the East, and the New York Knicks sat at home to face the Indiana Pacers. At present, the two teams are tied 2-2, the Knicks have won two games in a row at home, and the Pacers who returned to their home court also equalized the score with two big wins, especially in the G4 game, the Knicks were hit by the opponent's head all over the court, and the maximum point difference was as high as 43 points, which is the largest point difference in the current playoffs. I have to say that coach Thibodeau stubbornly uses a 6-7 man rotation, and the drawbacks are slowly emerging, Mitchell Robinson is reimbursed for the season due to an ankle injury, Anunoby is likely to miss this round of the series, Brunson is fighting with injuries, the whole team is full of injuries, and the starters are almost out of lineup. The Knicks' three main players are averaging 42+ minutes per game, how many more games can they last?
Before the game, the American media ESPN also gave a prediction of the winning rate of this Tianwang Mountain battle: the Knicks have a winning rate of 54.3%, and the Pacers have a 45.7% winning rate. In terms of injuries, the Knicks' Randle, Bogdanovic, Mitchell Robinson and Anunoby are out due to injury, and the starting five are: Brunson, McBride, DiVincenzo, Hart, Hartenstein; Mathurin on the Pacers' side continues to be sidelined, starting lineup: Turner, Nesmith, Haliburton, Nembhard, Siakam.
At the beginning of the first quarter, Nesmith and Siakam scored two points in succession to win the first place for the Pacers, Hatten grabbed the frontcourt rebounds in a row, Brunson accelerated the breakthrough, threw and scored and added free throws, Turner received the ball at the top of the arc and the three-pointer fell with a knife, Siakam made two fouls and made two free throws, and the Pacers started 16-9 and stopped the Knicks directly. After a timeout, Hatten sent a clever pass, McBride made an easy layup, and then Harden followed up in the middle and hit a high arc throw from the free throw line. McConnell wanted to create a rear-end collision, but was whistled by the referee for an offensive foul, and in turn, Hartley scored 5 points in a row, and the Knicks completed the overtake. The Pacers then made three consecutive low-level errors, DiVincenzo broke through McBride, who cut the ball, and returned the small toss, Hart made a layup and was fouled on the head by Siakam, and the referee upheld the original decision after reviewing it as a common foul. At the end of the first quarter, the Knicks led the Pacers by six points at 38-32.
Brunson picked up his form and finished with 10 points and two assists on 5-of-8 shooting in the first quarter. Coming back in the second quarter, Jackson knocked down DiVincenzo, was whistled for an offensive foul and received a technical foul, and then Harden and Burks came out for DiVincenzo, and a confrontation broke out, and after the referee reviewed the video, the two each received a technical foul. Brunson hit another shot on a breakaway, Nesmith was whistled for a foul, coach Carlisle used a fourth timeout to challenge, and the referee changed Brunson's offensive foul, which is indeed debatable. Brunson then bowed with one hand, easily passed the defense, hit a layup, and then hit a three-point stop at the top of the arc to score 22 points. Nembhard hit a solid three-pointer to stop the bleeding in time, and the Pacers are currently 6-of-7 from three-point range. Brunson didn't look at the man's behind-the-back shot, McBride received the ball and hit a three-pointer, and the Knicks had an 18-point lead. DiVincenzo added a big hat to Siakam, and at halftime, the Knicks extended their lead to 15 points at 69-54.
Half-time data, on the Knicks' side, Brunson exploded, shooting 12 of 18, cutting 28 points, 2 rebounds and 4 assists; DiVincenzo was 2-of-10 for 4 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals and 1 block; Hart contributed 12 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal and 1 block. On the Pacers' side, Siakam was 4-of-9 from the field, contributing 13 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 steal. In terms of rebounds, the Knicks led 27-11 in rebounds, including a 12-2 lead in frontcourt rebounds, and the horror is that the Knicks rebounded a whopping 44% (12/27) in the frontcourt.
It is worth mentioning that so far this season, as many as 7 players on the Pacers team have averaged double-doubles per game, creating an NBA miracle, becoming the third team in the history of the league's playoffs to do so, the first two being the Celtics in 1969 and the Lakers in 1985. In addition, Brunson also created a miracle in team history, scoring 28 points in a playoff half, the most points scored in a playoff half in Knicks history since the 1996-97 season.
Yibian fought again, Turner hit three consecutive three-pointers, helping the team chase 7 points, and the Pacers had made 9 of 14 three-pointers, and the shooting rate was terrifying. Then the basket helped the defensive hat to fly Hart's layup, Brunson and McBride hit two three-pointers in a row, and then hit a throw from Nesmith to score again, and then DiVincenzo made a wonderful pass to McBride, who hit an easy layup, and the Knicks stretched the score to 20 points. The Pacers have no timeout, or DiVincenzo, the baseline takes off to complete the rebound, and then the defense Turner fouls, and the two sides break out fierce clashes again, and the game is really full of gunpowder. The Pacers didn't score for six straight minutes, and the Knicks went on a 17-0 run to put the margin to 25 points.
In the fourth quarter, Siakam first scored 2+1, and then chased down three points, and the Pacers opened the game with a 9-0 run to 12 points. Burks caught the ball at the top of the arc and hit a three-point shot to stop the bleeding in time, Brunson broke through with the ball, scored a rebound on the air unbalanced, and added free throws, Turner was blown for a covering foul in a row, and the Knicks seized the opportunity to return a wave of 10-2, and the difference was stretched to 20 points again. Harden then grabbed two frontcourt rebounds in a row, passed to Burks and hit two three-pointers in a row, and the game was no longer in suspense.
In the end, the Knicks defeated the Pacers again at home, completed a 7-point reversal, and won the battle of Tianwang Mountain, and the big score came to 3-2. According to the data given by the American media ESPN, the team that won the king in NBA history has an 82% probability of winning the series (190-42), and they need more people to step up.
In terms of statistics, on the Knicks' side, Brunson shot 18 of 34 and shot 44 points, 4 rebounds and 7 assists; Hart had 18 points, 11 rebounds and three assists; DiVincenzo contributed 8 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals; McBride had 17 points, 1 rebound and 3 assists; Harden had five points, 17 rebounds and five assists, and Burks became a surprise player, chipped in 18 points and five rebounds. On the Pacers' side, Haliburton was in a slump again, scoring only 13 points, 2 rebounds and 5 assists on 5-of-9 shooting; Turner had 16 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks; Siakam had 22 points, eight rebounds and one assist, Nesmith had eight points, Toppin had seven points and four rebounds, Nembhard had 11 points and four assists, and McConnell had seven points and five assists.