The Eastern Conference semifinals between the New York Knicks and the Indiana Pacers came to the Battle of Kings Mountain, and at Madison Square Garden in New York, the battle for the top point guards in the East, Brunson and Haliburton, directly affected the trend of this series. Brunson was cheered by the home fans, shooting 18 of 35 and slashing 44 points, 4 rebounds and 7 assists, with a plus/minus of +31, while Haliburton was lost again after 3 games, I don't know if there was a physical problem, Haliburton only played 34 minutes in this game, handed over 13 points, 2 rebounds and 5 assists, and the plus/minus of -22 was the worst in the starters. As a result, the Knicks won by 30 points at home, and with the victory of the Battle of Kings Mountain, their probability of advancing to the Eastern Conference Finals is as high as 82%.
The U.S. men's basketball team admits it, they clearly made a mistake. In fact, Brunson and Haliburton have a good relationship, and when the Pacers finally advanced to the playoffs, Brunson congratulated the little brother Haliburton for the first time. The two were both selected for the U.S. men's basketball team last year and participated in the World Cup with the team, when Kerr, who took over the coaching whip of the U.S. team from Popovich, asked Haliburton to start, Brunson as a substitute, and everyone knows that the U.S. team's performance was a big surprise, and in the end even the bronze medal could not be retained.
This summer, the U.S. men's basketball team will compete in the Paris Olympics, because of the big names, Janduku and other older generation stars, the selection of the roster needs to be more cautious, but the coaching staff has repeatedly decided to let Haliburton be selected, and Brunson is not selected - this is because he thinks Haliburton is taller and stronger. But after watching the direct dialogue between the two in this round of the series, I found that compared with Brunson's ruthlessness, Haliburton still lacks the momentum of fighting for every ball, and his style of play is more dependent on space, and when the defensive intensity is full, he really does not have the ability to solve as hard as Brunson. I don't know if this mistake made by the American team will have a subtle impact in the summer.
Of course, a good man and three gangs, New York's hearty victory is not just due to Brunson, their advantages in interior and rebounding give the team more margin for error and more opportunities for secondary offense. In the past, Hart was a rebounding maniac with a height of 1.93 meters, but this game was the turn of Hartenstein, the German guy grabbed a total of 17 rebounds in the whole game, of which 12 were frontcourt rebounds.
The last New York player who grabbed 12 frontcourt rebounds in a single game was traced back to the "bad guy" Oakley, and Hartenstein really "reproduced the glory of his predecessors, and my generation is duty-bound". Who can remember that when he first came to the NBA, Hartenstein and Zhou Qi lived in the same dormitory, and he was also Zhou Qi's little brother. Time has passed, Zhou Qi has long since faded out of the NBA, but Hartenstein has spelled out an annual salary of tens of millions of dollars and a chance to show his might in the Eastern Conference semifinals, which is really embarrassing.
It is true that from the perspective of rotation depth, the Pacers are still the better side, but the playoffs are all about short rotation and high intensity, and with the victory and defeat of Tianwang Mountain, the wind of the series has completely tilted to the side of the Knicks, do the Pacers still have a chance?