Donte DiVincenzo thinks the Pacers are Fugazi.
DiVincenzo and Indiana’s Myles Turner came on in the third quarter of Game 5, where the Knicks defeated the Pacers 121-91 in a physically demanding and at times tough Eastern Conference semifinal series. was forced to.
Then, even if the Pacers’ pride had already been tarnished, DiVincenzo took away the last vestiges of it with his frank assessment of Indiana.
“They were trying to be tough guys. And that’s not their identity, nothing more,” said DiVincenzo. “I don’t agree with trying to walk up to someone. … Nobody’s going to compete in the NBA. So if you get fouled, keep moving. You’re not a tough guy. Just keep moving. ”
The Knicks beat Indiana on the boards 53-29 and smacked the Pacers 20-5 on offense.
They forced Pacers players out of their offense, and Indiana was too overwhelmed to box out properly and generally just manhandled their opponents.
“We knew it wasn’t about offense in this series,” Turner said. “It’s all about hustle plays, offensive rebounds, 50-on-50 balls and controlling turnovers. They beat us on a lot of balls and that contributed to the outcome of the game.
“It’s not about our offense because we know we can score. … We’re one of the best scoring offenses in the history of this game, but it’s small stuff.
“I know I didn’t do my job tonight in terms of glass and I’ve got to make my own adjustments and take advantage of that for the next game. I’m going to take full ownership of that. And it starts with me putting a lot of that stuff out there.”
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That may have been a contributing factor to their rift.
DiVincenzo dove for a putback dunk, latched onto the rim, then came downcourt and tried to break through Turner’s screen, but was whistled for a foul.
Turner was enraged by DiVincenzo’s elbow to the gut, and the two began arguing and had to be separated by referees Scott Foster and Obi Toppin with 4:27 left in the third game. .
There were five technical fouls, three of them on the Knicks side.
“They talked, they tried to put their bodies on the line, they tried to basically be our brand, our identity. And they nailed it in the last game,” DiVincenzo said. “We got together again and watched the film and realized that’s not who we are. We came out tonight and that’s just who we are.
“That’s who we are. We’ve been like that all season. … That’s our identity and what we practice every day. They had success in the last game, so I We knew we had to get back to who we were, and that’s exactly what we did.”
