The Knicks scored on their first five possessions and never trailed. Jalen Brunson (32 points and five assists) and Karl-Anthony Towns (24 points and 13 rebounds) led the way offensively, and we\u2019re set for a huge Game 6 in Indiana on Saturday (8 ET, TNT<\/a>).<\/p>\n Here are some notes, quotes, numbers and film as the Pacers were held under a point per possession for the first time<\/a> in these playoffs \u2026<\/p>\n 1. Knicks\u2019 defense plays desperate<\/p>\n The Pacers don\u2019t have as much offensive talent as some other teams, but they may have the toughest offense to defend. They came into Game 5 leading the postseason in player movement and ranking second in ball movement.<\/p>\n Through the first four games, the Knicks couldn\u2019t keep up, allowing 121.1 points per 100 possessions, their worst defensive stretch since the All-Star break.<\/p>\n \u201cIn this series, we haven\u2019t lacked scoring,\u201d Towns said. \u201cIt\u2019s been more about us not stopping them from scoring.\u201d<\/p>\n In Game 5, the Knicks got stops, holding the Pacers to 94 points on 97 possessions, their worst offensive performance of the playoffs by a healthy margin.<\/p>\n Indiana took some bad shots by choice<\/a>, but also out of necessity<\/a>, because the Knicks forced them into no-advantage situations late in the clock.<\/p>\n Indiana was still terrific early in the clock, scoring a series-high 31 transition points on 22 possessions, according to Synergy tracking. But when the Knicks were able to set up, they locked them down.<\/p>\n There were some individual efforts that got the Garden crowd fired up, like when Mitchell Robinson pressured Myles Turner into a turnover early in the third quarter. But to keep the Pacers under a point per possession for 48 minutes, you need multiple efforts from multiple defenders.<\/p>\n When Indiana was beginning to get a little traction offensively late in the first quarter, the Knicks had one of their best defensive possessions of the game. It started with Miles McBride getting over a screen for Tyrese Haliburton and Josh Hart closing out to Obi Toppin and staying in front of his drive. Hart then switched onto T.J. McConnell and kept him from getting to his spot \u2026<\/p>\n Brunson hedged a screen for Haliburton, allowing Ben Sheppard to pop open to the top of the arc, but Mikal Bridges rotated over from the weak side and McBride scrambled out to Bridges\u2019 man. Bridges then kept Sheppard from getting off a clean shot in the paint \u2026<\/p>\n The defense has more control over how the opponent shoots in the paint than how it shoots from the perimeter. And on Thursday, the Pacers shot 17-for-37<\/a> (46%) in the paint, their worst mark in the playoffs and their third-worst mark all season.<\/p>\n 2. Brunson and Towns continue to cook<\/p>\n The Knicks\u2019 issues through through the first four games did not include the offense from Brunson and Towns. But they still need those guys to score abundantly and efficiently to stay alive in this series.<\/p>\n That wasn\u2019t a problem on Thursday, when the Knicks\u2019 stars outscored the entire Pacers starting lineup, 56-37, with those 56 points coming on a true shooting percentage of 67%.<\/p>\n Brunson came out hot, scoring six points before the Pacers had taken a shot. Aaron Nesmith has been Brunson\u2019s toughest defender in this series, but Brunson wasn\u2019t looking for switches early, and instead took it right at Nesmith for two of those three buckets.<\/p>\n When the Knicks did set screens for him, Brunson didn\u2019t need much of an advantage to get where he wanted to go. The Knicks\u2019 smallest leads in the second half were 10 points, and their point guard got them more separation both times it got that close.<\/p>\n The second of those buckets was a tough floater off the glass with Bennedict Mathurin on his hip \u2026<\/p>\n Towns, meanwhile, continued to attack Turner like he wasn\u2019t anything close to seven-feet tall \u2026<\/p>\n With his 32 and five, Brunson became just the fourth different player in NBA history \u2013 joining Michael Jordan (three times), LeBron James (three times) and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (also this year) \u2013 with 10 or more games<\/a> of at least 30 points an five assists in a single postseason.<\/p>\n Towns is having his best offensive playoff series in the nine that he\u2019s played in his career. His 25.4 points<\/a> is his highest average by a healthy margin in those nine series, while his true shooting percentage of 64.0% is his third highest mark.<\/p>\n 3. Knicks go deep on the bench<\/p>\n With his team facing elimination, Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau did not shorten his rotation. Instead, he played enough guys to field a baseball team \u2026 with a DH.<\/p>\n For the third straight game, Landry Shamet and Delon Wright got real rotation time. And Thibodeau played a 10th man \u2013 Precious Achiuwa \u2013 with Towns in foul trouble and Mitchell Robinson being intentionally fouled by the Pacers.<\/p>\n The bench minutes weren\u2019t great; New York was outscored by nine points in Towns\u2019 12:14 off the floor. But the reserves did enough to at least keep the starters fresh in a game where they were clearly exerting additional energy on defense. Shamet scored five points, his high for these playoffs, and he and Wright both got key defensive stops.<\/p>\n In the regular season, Knicks reserves averaged just 63.5 minutes per game, the lowest mark for any team in the last 15 seasons. Through Game 2 of this series, they averaged just 52.0 per game. But over the last three games, Knicks reserves have averaged 76.7 minutes.<\/p>\n When these two teams faced each other in last year\u2019s conference semifinals, the Knicks lost the war of attrition and had only three of their top eight players available by the end of Game 7. And while it seems doubtful that Achiuwa, Shamet or Wright are going to change a game with their play on either end of the floor, it may be that their minutes allow the top seven guys to have enough gas in the tank should another Knicks-Pacers series go the distance.<\/p>\n 4. Pacers come up empty<\/p>\n While the Knicks\u2019 defense was improved, the Pacers\u2019 shot quality wasn\u2019t their worst of the series. It was actually worse in Games 2 and 3, according to Second Spectrum tracking. They missed some good looks.<\/p>\n \u201cI thought there were stretches where we had good shots and didn\u2019t convert,\u201d Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. \u201cBut overall, it wasn\u2019t good enough.\u201d<\/p>\n The Pacers weren\u2019t as purposeful offensively as they were through the first four games. Brunson was the screener\u2019s defender in only 13 ball-screens, down from a career-high 29 in Game 4.<\/p>\n The Pacers\u2019 offense starts with Haliburton, who totaled just eight points in his 32 minutes in Game 5. He\u2019s now averaged 21.3 points (on 48% shooting) in the Pacers\u2019 11 playoff wins and just 11.5 (on 39%) in their four losses. He took responsibility for the subpar performance on Thursday.<\/p>\n \u201cRough night for me,\u201d he admitted. \u201cI got to be better, setting the tone, getting downhill. I feel I didn\u2019t do a great job of that.\u201d<\/p>\n 5. Can the Knicks do it again?<\/p>\n Slowing the Pacers\u2019 offense down takes a lot of energy. The Knicks were able to do it once, extending their season for at least another 48 hours.<\/p>\n \u201cThey played harder than us, loose balls, rebounds, all that,\u201d Pascal Siakam said. \u201cWe got to be able to win that battle.\u201d<\/p>\n The Pacers will get another chance on Saturday, when the Knicks will need to summon up a similarly terrific performance. This has been an evenly matched series, with the Pacers up 3-2 and the Knicks having an edge (582-576<\/a>) in total scoring. Four of the five games could have gone either way.<\/p>\n The Knicks are 6-2 on the road in these playoffs, but the Pacers haven\u2019t lost two straight games since March 10.<\/p>\n The Oklahoma City Thunder are awaiting the winner.<\/p>\n * * *<\/p>\n John Schuhmann is a senior stats analyst for NBA.com. You can e-mail him\u00a0here<\/a>, find\u00a0his archive here<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0follow him on X<\/a>.<\/p>\n The views on this page do not necessarily reflect the views of the NBA, its clubs or Warner Bros. Discovery.<\/p>\n![\"Knicks](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/20250529_nyk-defense-1.gif\")
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