Jalen Brunson will look to help the New York Knicks take a commanding lead in their Eastern Conference semifinal series against the Indiana Pacers on Friday when the teams play Game 3 in Indianapolis.
Brunson followed up his 43-point performance in New York’s 121-117 victory in the series opener by overcoming a right foot injury to score 29 points in a 130-121 win on Wednesday.
“The mental toughness piece is so important,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said. “To get through things. To be at your best when your best is needed, even when you may not be feeling your best. That’s who (Jalen) is. He’s a great leader.”
Brunson exited late in the first quarter in Game 2 due to his injury before returning to the floor to test his foot at halftime. That sight apparently lit a spark for the second-seeded Knicks, who overcame a 10-point halftime deficit to outlast the Pacers.
“We’re just sticking together no matter what, no matter what the situation is, no matter what’s thrown at us, no matter what’s at a disadvantage for us, we’re just going to stick together and that’s the thing we always harp on,” Brunson said.
Brunson is averaging a robust 35.6 points per game this postseason for injury-riddled New York, which saw OG Anunoby sustain a hamstring injury on a transition play in the third quarter. Anunoby did not return to the contest and finished with a career playoff-high 28 points on Wednesday. His availability for Game 3 was not immediately known.
Now the series shifts to Indianapolis, and Pacers coach Rick Carlisle told reporters that he’d like to see a correction in what he believes is unbalanced officiating.
“Small-market teams deserve an equal shot. They deserve a fair shot no matter where they’re playing,” said Carlisle, who received two technical fouls and was ejected on Wednesday.
Indiana’s T.J. McConnell praised the fire shown by Carlisle but noted he isn’t interested in pointing the finger at the officials.
“We’re not gonna sit here and blame officials. We gotta be better. It’s just that simple,” McConnell said. “They smashed us on the boards again (in Game 2) and just brought more energy than we did. We gotta fix that.”
To McConnell’s point, the sixth-seeded Pacers were outrebounded 40-32 in the series opener and 44-34 on Wednesday.
Tyrese Haliburton rebounded from a dismal six-point showing in the series opener to score 34 on Wednesday. He made 11 of 19 shots — including 7 of 11 from 3-point range — to go along with nine assists and six rebounds.
“I just felt like we took advantage of what was given,” Haliburton said. “Obviously, watching the Game 1 film, it has obviously been sitting with us that we gotta be better of getting downhill and getting more paint attacks.”
Unfortunately for the Pacers, their frontcourt members were unable to consistently sink their shots — namely Pascal Siakam (7 of 18), Myles Turner (3 of 11) and Aaron Nesmith (2 of 7). Those struggles didn’t help matters against a Knicks team that shot a robust 57.0 percent from the floor and 46.7 percent from 3-point range.
“We just missed some looks,” Haliburton said. “It happens over the course of a series.”
–Field Level Media
