Pacers lose pace, offense in Game 3 loss

Well.

By: Samson Folk I @samfolkk

Everything is bigger in Indiana, or at least the Knicks starting lineup is. The Pacers zipped the ball around and forced the double bigs to step up and around the perimeter, but a bad run of shot making put them in a bit of a hole early. Also, Jalen Brunson seems almost impossibly good at carving space from the middle of the floor. The talent he has to navigate that traffic and always comfortably find his shot, it blows my mind. The Knicks gave him a couple extra possessions with the big boys out there as well to kick things off. The name of the game for the Pacers early on defense was: contain. 

Despite all of the shooting struggles — despite the quality of the looks — from the Pacers, they still hung around the first half of the opening frame before eventually getting a foothold established to step out to a four-point lead. Myles Turner did a fantastic job of bludgeoning Deuce McBride on switches for loose ball fouls to give the Pacers life, even ending up as the play finisher after two loose ball fouls got the Pacers their third shot attempt in a row - a triple that found the bottom. T.J. McConnell jumped in with Turner and Andrew Nembhard as the best players of the opening stretch, but it was a team effort as eight different players scored in the first 12 minutes - from Tony Bradley duck-ins to Sheppard triples. They were happy to play egalitarian hoops. Play faster. To harvest in their agrarian economy of buckets. 

The second quarter kicked off with even more McConnell — who dating back to Game 2 had been on a hell of a run — testing the Knicks bigs, how deep they wanted to sit back, and comfortably hit short jumpers over the wall they placed in front of him. The Knicks, by the way, had already tossed Landry Shamet & Delon Wright into the game, the former of which, was running get actions into pull up triples. The Knicks were searching everywhere for something that worked. Coach Carlisle, who had just recently landed himself in the Top-10 all time in playoff wins by a coach, responded with little used lineups himself. Testing dynamics, providing rest, and still holding serve, the Pacers kept moving forward. Up 42-35 in the middle of the 2nd quarter. 

A couple very big plays: An overturned call that changed a Towns And-1 into an offensive foul, which netted him his third foul. And, Brunson stepping in on Aaron Nesmith and picking up his third as well. The Pacers were in a run of play where Sheppard and Nesmith were playing unbelievably sticky defense at the point of attack, and Haliburton and company were pinging the ball around on offense. They pushed for a 13-0 run that was capped off by a lob from Haliburton to Toppin, a Haliburton pull from downtown, and finally a Haliburton breakaway dunk. 

Huge crowd pops on all three, and the last saw Haliburton grab his jersey, point to the “Indiana” emblazoned across the chest, and scream to his crowd. Holy moly what a stretch. Oh my days. 

55-35, Pacers. 

The Knicks had a small run in them, where their defense actually looked quite impressive in scramble mode, to close the deficit to 45-58, but all in all the Pacers exhibited an immense amount of control on the game, planted four fouls on Brunson (and 3 on Towns) and completely shook up everything the Knicks were trying to do. A great first half for the home team. 

O.G. Anunoby had a strong shot making start to the second half, and the Knicks looked to get him the ball repeatedly, but they couldn’t consistently manufacture that offense. The Pacers got to find their stride and paid the Knicks run back in kind. 

The most unfortunate thing though, was that Nesmith had a pretty severe ankle roll after landing on Brunson’s foot after trying to make a baseline to corner pass. He got help off the floor and left the game. The Pacers confirmed it as a right ankle sprain. The ensuing run of play was extremely messy and ugly from both teams. Turnovers in quick succession, ends changing fast, missed shots - all that nonsense. However, the Pacers were still up 15, even as they were shooting 4-of-17 from downtown (with Haliburton at 1-of-6). 

Note: The Pacers, despite the success and control of the game, were probably too passive about the drives they were getting over the course of the game. Dribbles picked up a little early. Opportunities passed up. 

There was a McBride stretch. A 7-0 stretch purely off the strength of his pull up jumper. The Pacers never quite settled their offensive process, racked up a glut of offensive fouls and turnovers, and for a stretch lost the composure that had defined so much of their series so far. Again, yes, three offensive fouls in 2 minutes of play with another turnover from McConnell tacked on. Still though, holding onto a 10-point lead heading into the final frame. 

“Calm waters… I feel like I sped up too much and that’s on me.” - McConnell on the sideline interview after being asked about how the Pacers can keep the Knicks at bay. 

An offensive rebound from Hart and a triple from Towns started off the fourth quarter scoring. We were officially back within single digits. A Turner trip to the line got sandwiched between a Towns iso and a Wright layup. A blown post entry pass from Sheppard. An And-1 layup from Towns. The 7-0 run from last quarter had stretched into a 17-4 wobble, and a two-point lead for the home team. All without Brunson on the floor. Really bad run of play for the Pacers. 

Note: The Mathurin stuff has been so bad. 

Towns had himself a run, wow. Pulled the Knicks all the way back and snatched lead back. Unbelievable stint. The craziest play of the game, by far, was when the Knicks gave Towns the ball above the break for an inverted pick n’ roll and he just stepped back out of it for a pull-up triple to take a four-point lead. 20 points in the first 7 minutes of the fourth quarter. 

The Pacers started wedge rolling Siakam to try and keep pace on offense. The first two possessions they used it were makes. They had to get something better though. Something that stressed the Knicks defensive shell a little more. But, they didn’t. 

The problem, outside of shooting so poorly from downtown (5-of-25), was the passivity on offense. The Knicks got to turn the water off with switch and scramble defense because the Pacers kept passing out against even the weakest of digs or stunts. A team rotating around with no danger to them. 

Brunson came in for one huge possession, to hit a floater and take the lead late. A lead that the Pacers would never reclaim. They lost the zip in their actions, and they didn’t have a lick of shot making to paper over it. They played fine enough defense down the stretch, but they failed on offense. 42 points in the second half. 

A tremendously disappointing outcome. Especially at home. Back to the drawing board. 

Have a blessed day.