Pascal Siakam dazzles to steal Game 2 in the Garden

Let’s rock

By: Samson Folk I @samfolkk

The Knicks opened by switching out on to Tyrese Haliburton first thing, meaning Karl-Anthony Towns would have to move his feet a lot. No more drop. So, the Pacers shifted to a lot of looks for their max player early. Pascal Siakam scored the Pacers first 11 points! He was super aggressive going at O.G. Anunoby with the post up and the turnaround twice, two great finishes in transition, and a triple off a ghost screen. Hell yeah. The man who broke the Siakam-only-offense? Who else, but Aaron Nesmith from downtown. 

On defense both Siakam and Andrew Nembhard were putting out a lot of fires helping off of Anunoby and Josh Hart, respectively. Seeing that, the Knicks kept choosing Anunoby as the man to get the ball, but outside of a nice catch-and-shoot make over the outstretched arms of Siakam, the Pacers managed to close out and recover to keep the Knicks under wraps. It was an excellent start on both sides of the court that put the Pacers up 19-9 after the first thrust. 

As was the case with Game 1, the Deuce McBride and Mitchell Robinson duo have the Knicks immense life off the bench. They spurred on a 10-0 run as McBride’s presence gave the Knicks more bite on defense, and after Turner exited the game — with I’m not sure what — the Knicks went after Thomas Bryant in the pick n’ roll. A great stretch for the Knicks, and it seemed as if we were following a script from Game 1 if you were only looking at the score line. 

When I say Robinson bludgeoned the glass, I mean it. The McConnell and Mathurin stuff went poorly for the second, first quarter in a row - only it was saved a bit by 5 more points from Siakam to help the Pacers keep things in an okay spot. All in all, they were down two at the end of the first frame. An okay spot to be. There were adjustments to be made. 

TONY BRADLEY CHECKED IN! Oh my days. Siakam started taking the Towns assignment which did a pretty good job of turning the water off on offense until a late scram switch allowed Towns to shake loose for an And-1. The Pacers subsisted, almost exclusively, on the unreal brilliance of Siakam’s offense - which played to the tune of 21 points on 12 shots, almost half of the Pacers total shot attempts and over a third of their points. His defense on Towns and the offense over that stretch was a lifeline for his team. The Pacers got to sub in Haliburton, fresh as a daisy, in a tie game. 

The bad news? The Knicks snapped off a 9-0 run as Towns got loose a couple times in a row, and the Pacers got a little caught up in sorting out the Knicks switching, and had a couple missed shots that should be made. Nembhard canned a triple against a dropping Towns — who I suspect was supposed to be up at the level — and Haliburton found Turner for a dunk the next play down. Punch. Counterpunch. 

Speaking of counters? Sheppard hit the court early in this one. First play down? He got a stop on Brunson on one end, and hit a triple on the other. Good stuff. Things did go kind of wild for a stretch. They had to sustain a handful of misses in a row from their star guard, and a very rough stretch of play from their center, still comfortably in the game, though. Robinson checked out after 16 straight minutes of bruising, bashing, tremendous basketball. What a beast. 

Speaking of a beast? Siakam provided most of the creation for the Pacers as they approached the end of the half. He got to post up smalls to close. Scoring and drawing doubles to start the pinging action his team loves to score out of. He had what was maybe his best half as a Pacer. They were down by 3 at the half, which was a pretty comfortable place to be, all things considered. It’s not often that Haliburton shoots 14 percent from the floor in a half. 

The first play for the Pacers out of halftime was a pin down for Turner to fire away on a motion triple! He missed! Insane! Better process next time down as Haliburton rejected a Nesmith screen, brought the gap help from Anunoby, and found Siakam for a triple. Much, much better. Also, a better play for Turner as he carved out a huge hunk of space against Bridges and drew free throws after Towns switched the screen onto Haliburton - even though he split the pair.

Beloved Bowl Update: OG beat Pascal on a jump ball. 

We saw some big time Pacers basketball over a stretch that saw Haliburton get a dunk (after a sick Gortat screen from Turner), a Nesmith layup after both the stars audibled out of matchups they could score on to move the ball against Brunson, and pinch post action that Siakam roasted Hart alive on. These were all actions, but the Pacer went to them quickly and with great, erm, pace. Excellent layup at the rim for Siakam (podcast listeners know). 

Par for the course though, the Knicks were only a couple offensive rebounds and triples from climbing right back into things. They pushed that button, and evened things up at 70. 

The Brunson/Robinson tandem remained an absolute load to deal with. Brunson’s mastery in the middle of the floor made every shot he took from there seem like it would inevitably find the bottom of the bucket. And Robinson, well, he steamrolled everyone again. The pace went up to a million for a minute or two as both teams changed ends rapidly. We got the best burst of McConnell of the playoffs so far, with a rapid scoop to the bucket in early offense, and a terrific find to Siakam for a dunk in transition. 

We also got a masterful exchange from Siakam and Brunson as the former picked out the latter with early work, called out for a pinch post iso, drew Robinson over to double and hit the And-1 on him. Rimmed out on the free throw, but my god was that a special sequence. Brunson, as special as he is, undressed Nembhard for a slick up and under that closed out the third quarter in a tie. Siakam with 32, Brunson with 26, and with 12 minutes to go. 

More good McConnell to start the fourth. Started with a make and created an And-1 for Turner after Towns botched a hedge; and then another short jumper for Turner, and then ANOTHER look for Sheppard from downtown. Great looks. Excellent work from the Pacers feisty bench guard. This happened, notably, with Mathurin on the bench - who is usually attached to these lineups. 

Also of note: there’s been a lot of Towns trying Siakam, and I don’t think it’s an advantage for the Knicks. Also of note! Siakam just banged a triple while I wrote this! 35 points! 11-2 run to open the fourth! Although, a couple buckets from Bridges helped the Knicks stay close. 

We had a big moment where Haliburton flattened out for an iso against Robinson and had a layup attempt blocked. Nesmith and Brunson exchanged triples. Both point guards started pointing and hunting each other out on defense. Mutually assured destruction. 

Siakam and Haliburton got Brunson on back to back plays. Then, we got hack-a-Robinson. An option that became viable because the All NBA big man, Towns, was glued to the bench. Also on the bench? Josh Hart. The Knicks were trying EVERYTHING to solve the Pacers. With 2:25 left, after a couple Anunoby free throws, the Knicks trailed by 8. Brunson walked into a pull in Nembhard’s face to bring the lead down to 5. His next time down the court? An impossible floater dropped in. 110-107. A 7-0 run in no time for the home team. The Pacers sold out to keep Brunson from the pull to tie the game and he found Hart for a layup, before fouling Nesmith on the inbounds. 

Two shots. Two makes. 

Brunson missed a 28 foot pull. Turner corralled the rebound. Two free throws. Two makes. A 5-point lead, and 4 seconds to the Knicks death. A Brunson airball sealed it. 

2-0. Front running in the ECF. 

Hell yeah, Pacers. 

By the way, I’ve covered Siakam’s championship run. I watched him put up 30 in his Finals debut. I’ve watched him hit a championship winning shot over Draymond Green while putting up 26 and 10. 

This was the best playoff game I’ve ever seen from him. 

Have a blessed day.