{"id":65285,"date":"2025-05-30T03:42:10","date_gmt":"2025-05-30T03:42:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/65285\/"},"modified":"2025-05-30T03:42:10","modified_gmt":"2025-05-30T03:42:10","slug":"knicks-brunson-scores-32-points-to-force-game-6-against-pacers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/65285\/","title":{"rendered":"Knicks’ Brunson scores 32 points to force Game 6 against Pacers"},"content":{"rendered":"

New York \u2013 Jalen Brunson scored 32 points, Karl-Anthony Towns added 24 points and 13 rebounds despite a bruised left knee and the New York Knicks stayed alive in the Eastern Conference finals by beating the Indiana Pacers 111-94 on Thursday night in Game 5.<\/p>\n

The Knicks won on their home floor for the first time in the series and prevented the Pacers from earning the second NBA Finals trip in franchise history. Indiana will try again Saturday night at home.<\/p>\n

Knicks fans chanted \u201cKnicks in 7! Knicks in 7!\u201d in the final minutes as New York extended its first trip to the conference finals since 2000 and kept alive hopes of becoming the 14th team to overcome a 3-1 deficit to win a series. No team has won a conference finals series after dropping the first two games at home.<\/p>\n

Two nights after giving up 43 points in the first quarter, the Knicks held the Pacers to just 45 in the first half and limited Tyrese Haliburton, who had 32 points, 15 assists and 12 rebounds Tuesday, to just eight points and six assists.<\/p>\n

Brunson, outplayed by his point guard counterpart Tuesday, rebounded with his franchise-record 20th postseason game of 30 or more points with the Knicks.<\/p>\n

Bennedict Mathurin scored 23 points off the bench for the Pacers, who had won six straight road games. Indiana shot just 40.5% from the field in by far its lowest-scoring game of the postseason.<\/p>\n

Brunson scored 14 in the first quarter as the Knicks held a 27-23 lead \u2013 giving up 20 fewer points than in the first quarter of Game 4, when they trailed 43-35.<\/p>\n

Towns, who was questionable to play after hurting his left knee in a collision late in Game 4, picked up the slack with 12 in the second, when Brunson was scoreless.<\/p>\n

Brunson came back with the Knicks\u2019 first eight of the third quarter as they opened a 20-point lead midway through the period. The Pacers cut that in half before New York regained control with a 12-0 burst, highlighted by Brunson\u2019s four-point play, to make it 86-64.<\/p>\n

Thunder have week-long gap between games<\/p>\n

Oklahoma City \u2013 The Oklahoma City Thunder have a week off before playing again in the NBA Finals.<\/p>\n

How the Thunder, who defeated the Minnesota Timberwolves 4-1 in the Western Conference finals, handle that stretch could set the tone for the championship series against either the Indiana Pacers or New York Knicks that starts June 5 in Oklahoma City.<\/p>\n

Thunder coach Mark Daigneault expects his young players to handle the situation just like they\u2019ve handled everything else that\u2019s been thrown at them this season.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re highly professional, consistently professional,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019re high-character people. They come from high-character circles. They\u2019re unbelievably competitive. They put the work in behind it consistently through the ups and downs. And most of all, they are team first.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Thunder have had long breaks between games during the playoffs the past two years, with mixed results.<\/p>\n

They swept the New Orleans Pelicans in last year\u2019s first round, then beat Dallas 117-95 at home in Game 1 of the conference semifinals after waiting eight days between games. The Thunder eventually lost that series 4-2.<\/p>\n

After this year’s series against Memphis, the Thunder were in a similar situation. Denver\u2019s first-round series against the Los Angeles Clippers went seven games, so Daigneault gave the players some extra rest since there were nine days between games. The focus for the team was less on an opponent at first and more on fine-tuning his team\u2019s issues.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, really just reinforcement of fundamentals,\u201d he said heading into the Denver series. \u201cThe game defensively is going to come down to transition D (defense), it\u2019s going to come down to individual D, help D, coverage, communication, closeouts, rebounding. So we\u2019re looking at the series through that lens. And then offensively, (we\u2019ll take) all the fundamentals on that end of the floor that transcend each coverage and pull it up.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Thunder lost to Denver 121-119 at home in Game 1 of the conference semifinals, but came back and won Game 2 131-80 and eventually won the series 4-3.<\/p>\n

Daigneault’s team learns well on the fly, so no experience is wasted for the squad that posted a league-best 68-14 record in the regular season.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis team, as they\u2019ve always done, they just internalize the experience,” he said. “They strip the emotion, they learn the lesson and then they compete presently in the next moment. And that\u2019s why we improved at the rate that we have.\u201d<\/p>\n

Conference Finals schedulesEastern ConferenceNew York vs. Indiana<\/p>\n

(Pacers lead 3-2)<\/p>\n

\u25b6 Game 1: Indiana 138-135 (OT)<\/p>\n

\u25b6 Game 2: Indiana 114-109<\/p>\n

\u25b6 Game 3: New York 106-100<\/p>\n

\u25b6 Game 4: Indiana 130-121<\/p>\n

\u25b6 Game 5: New York 111-94<\/p>\n

\u25b6 Game 6: Saturday, at Indiana, 8<\/p>\n

\u25b6 x-Game 7: Monday, at New York, 8<\/p>\n

Western ConferenceOklahoma City vs. Minnesota<\/p>\n

(Thunder win 4-1)<\/p>\n

\u25b6 Game 1: Oklahoma City 114-88<\/p>\n

\u25b6 Game 2: Oklahoma City 118-103<\/p>\n

\u25b6 Game 3: Minnesota 143-101<\/p>\n

\u25b6 Game 4: Oklahoma City 128-126<\/p>\n

\u25b6 Game 5: Oklahoma City 124-94<\/p>\n

NBA Finals schedule<\/p>\n

\u25b6 Game 1: Thursday, June 5<\/p>\n

\u25b6 Game 2: Sunday, June 8<\/p>\n

\u25b6 Game 3: Wednesday, June 11<\/p>\n

\u25b6 Game 4: Friday, June 13<\/p>\n

\u25b6 x-Game 5: Monday, June 16<\/p>\n

\u25b6 x-Game 6: Thursday, June 19<\/p>\n

\u25b6 x-Game 7: Sunday, June 22<\/p>\n

x-If necessary<\/p>\n

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