NBA Finals predictions: Are the Thunder and Knicks locks for the NBA Finals?
The For The Hoops crew make their picks for the NBA Finals. The Thunder vs. Knicks seem to be a popular pick, but are we counting the Timberwolves and Pacers out too early?
NEW YORK – Here the Knicks were again, saying they need to regroup, look at the film and learn from what went wrong in another frustrating, deflating and damaging loss.
Once again, they failed to play a full 48 minutes, letting the game slip away in the fourth quarter.
The Pacers, a team that’s made a habit of winning these types of down-to-the-wire games in the playoffs, did it again.
The Knicks couldn’t keep up, falling 114-109 in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals Friday night at Madison Square Garden.
“The regroup starts tomorrow,” Jalen Brunson said.
Now they face an 0-2 hole with the series shifting to Indianapolis, with Game 3 scheduled for Sunday night.
“Going into the fourth quarter, it’s a tie ballgame,” coach Tom Thibodeau said. “And we’ve just got to make better plays, more winning plays.”
The Knicks didn’t do that. The Pacers did.
You can look at any of the issues the Knicks faced Friday night.
Blown defensive coverages in the fourth quarter. Poor communication on that end of the floor. Not enough offense beyond Brunson’s 36 points. The lack of depth compared to Indiana’s, though the Knicks maintained it isn’t an issue. The slow starts.
Regardless, the Knicks just haven’t played well enough in this series late in games.
Blowing a 17-point lead in Game 1, then losing in overtime was a disaster. This wasn’t at that level, but it’s still a crippling loss.
“We had some blown coverages, and I think we were down six or nine, 10,” Josh Hart said. “Playoffs a lot of games are determined by a possession or two possessions. We can’t have those lapses. Two games in a row we did. We got to figure it out.”
Karl-Anthony Towns, who had 20 points and seven rebounds, hardly played in the fourth quarter – defensively he had a tough performance.
“We got in a hole and then the group that was in there gave us a chance, so we just were riding that,” Thibodeau said. “We were just searching for a way to win.”
The Knicks kept searching. They never found an answer.
These Pacers are a good team. They didn’t make it to the conference finals by accident. They didn’t upset the conference-leading Cleveland Cavaliers by accident, either.
They shot well from the field in Game 2 (51.8 percent). They went 13-of-30 (43.3 percent from deep).
All five starters scored in double figures, led by Pascal Siakam’s 39 points.
Now Indiana has a commanding series lead.
The Knicks are struggling to catch up.
“The regroup starts tomorrow,” Brunson said. “That’s it.”
The Knicks said the same thing after Game 1.
The regroup never materialized.