There is no sentence in the King’s English language that contains less truth than these words: “Sport is fun.”
you know better. We all know that in sports, the pain of defeat is far greater than the thrill of victory. You can see that the highs rarely exceed the lows. I can’t stand watching playoff games in any sport. sleep? No shots. It’s different when the game means so much.
But sometimes nights like this happen at Madison Square Garden. Sometimes it feels like everyone is in this together: players, coaches, ushers. And to all the fans. Of course the fans too. Sometimes there are games like Knicks 121, Pacers 91. In this game, with a few exceptions, the Knicks led comfortably for the final half hour or so.
A game where 19,812 customers cleared their throats early and then spent 2 ¹/₂ hours emptying their tanks. No one there could argue that they were more important than Jalen Brunson, who had 44 points, seven rebounds, and a plus-31 score that night. Or Josh Hart (18, 11, plus 21). Or Isaiah Hartenstein (17 rebounds, 12 of them on the offensive glass).
Don’t take my word for it. When asked about the 62-point comeback –!!! — between Games 4 and 5, Brunson explained: “Probably the home crowd. They were phenomenal.”
For one night only, this really meant everyone did their part. This was a must-see game, with the Knicks on the floor winning as impressively as any of their previous 56 games. It’s about Tom Thibodeau, who brilliantly slotted Deuce McBride into the starting five and scored 17 points at +26 with great defense.
And yes, this was about the fans in the stands, from the floor to the bridge and everywhere in between, refusing to stop making noise even as the lead eventually approached 30 points. That’s how much you earned. Heck, at a price like this, the Sport owes a lot more.
But this has to be done. This is a series we can enjoy for one more day, as this increasingly controversial series doesn’t resume in Indianapolis until Friday night. The Pacers, undefeated at home in the playoffs, will try to earn at least one more weekend of the basketball season. .
The Pacers played hard and gave everything they got from beyond the 3-point line. Brunson missed several shots. There was a quiet sense of desperation early on, just as the Pacers appeared to have carried the momentum into Sunday’s Game 4 with the team plane loaded in the overhead bin. The game was 16-9, Indiana, and he had 5¹/₂ minutes left.
The next 42¹/₂ made it 112-75, Knicks.
Your muscles will be sore by Wednesday morning. My voice becomes hoarse. Everyone was doing what they were supposed to do. Outsiders want to know why the Knicks (not just Thibodeau, but the entire team) worked like crazy to inch their way to the No. 2 seed? This is the reason. On a night like this. For games like this. A blend of soul, sound, and brutality that could have been heard on either side of Manhattan if the doors were open.
“It’s a tough lesson,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. “They have a cold-blooded desire to get the ball.”
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Donte DiVincenzo agreed: “That’s who we are.”
Knicks? Cold-blooded is the perfect description. The story of the two days was simple. The Pacers are young and fast, and they gained confidence last weekend against Indiana. The Knicks were on the verge of accomplishing something that almost no New York team had ever done before. In fact, some began to sympathize with the Knicks.
The Knicks refused that leniency. They just came out and brought out the best essence of what makes them who they are. They outscored the Pacers 53-29. He held Tyrese Haliburton to 9 shots and 13 points, a contrast to the man who led by word of mouth in Games 3 and 4.
“Defense always comes first,” McBride said. “What happens on offense is determined by how we play on defense.”
The Knicks didn’t have time to blink in the third when Myles Turner hit three straight threes and single-handedly cut a 16-point lead to seven.
Of course, having Brunson on the team helps, and Brunson has looked much healthier since he hit his ankle in Game 2.
“No matter how much we talk about him, it’s never enough,” Thibodeau said.
It has also been good to have Alec Burks on the team recently. He finished in double digits for the third year in a row since witness protection, scoring 18 points and making five threes.
“They’ve shown it all year long,” Thibodeau said. “That’s who we are. This is how we play. We have to play hard on every possession and keep doing that. Then it will be fun for everyone.”
Tuesday night was full of fun. I have no doubt that he will have at least one more basketball gathering at the Garden in 2024. And by the time you understand what you see, you can begin to hope that maybe it won’t happen. Game 7 is Sunday, but next week is Game 3 of the conference finals. You too have earned the right to dream.
