Still no room for error for Pacers who, as in Game 3, must protect their terrain to return to the height of Knicks in this conference semi-final.
Mission accomplished (121-89), without any difficulty, and to do this, Indiana relied in particular on Tyrese Haliburton (20 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists) and TJ McConnell (15 points, 10 assists), who will have rotated new York crazy all evening.
Indiana KOs New York in the first round
The start of the match is completely to the advantage of the Pacers, who cause misery to the Knicks by rushing everywhere, finding success at 3-points (Tyrese Haliburton) and making the ball live perfectly (TJ McConnell). Nothing falls in on the New York side, like Jalen Brunson and Donte DiVincenzo, while Rick Carlisle's men are galvanized by their audience and the effectiveness of all their rotations (34-14).
If Jalen Brunson tries to wake up his troops in the second quarter, along with Alec Burks, New York mainly pays for his lack of toughness on the rebound, not to mention his clumsiness with the ball in hand and when shooting. To make matters worse, the danger comes from everywhere in Indiana and, when it is not the Haliburton/McConnell pair who punishes, it is Pascal Siakam, Obi Toppin, Isaiah Jackson or Myles Turner who punish at 3-points and near the circle. Under these conditions, the gap is not about to go down (69-41).
No more success for the Knicks in the second half, despite a few baskets from Jalen Brunson and Alec Burks, again, while Tyrese Haliburton is responsible for sinking his opponents, with the help of Pascal Siakam and TJ McConnell. The intensity subsided and, at the end of the third quarter, Tom Thibodeau took out his starters to offer them some essential rest in preparation for Game 5 at Madison Square Garden (101-63). Because, after a last act without much interest (121-89), the Pacers won to return to 2-2 and put pressure on the New York players. Everything remains to be done in this series!
TO REMEMBER
– Indianapolis, impregnable fortress. Pushed by a boiling public, the Pacers did the job at home by equalizing at 2-2 and continuing their invincibility at home in the playoffs (5-0). More generally, counting the regular season, that now makes ten consecutive victories for Tyrese Haliburton's teammates, who will however have to manage to snatch an away match to hope to reach their first conference final since 2014. Why not from Game 5, riding on its momentum from Game 3-4?
– New York running out of juice ? Never in this meeting were the Knicks able to worry the Pacers and respond to their energy, intensity, activity, physical challenge. The starters and replacements took on water, Tom Thibodeau also did not have a lot of solutions on his bench, and this Game 4 quickly turned into a long ordeal for the Gotham franchise. Without OG Anunoby, nor Julius Randle and Bojan Bogdanovic, the New York rotation is extremely shortened and we wonder if Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart, Donte DiVincenzo and others Isaiah Hartenstein or Precious Achiuwa will be able to last over time…
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How to read the stats? Min = Minutes; Shots = Successful shots / Attempted shots; 3pts = 3-points / 3-points attempted; LF = free throws made / free throws attempted; O = offensive rebound; D=defensive rebound; T = Total rebounds; Pd = assists; Fte: Personal fouls; Int = Intercepts; Bp = Lost balls; Ct: Against; +/- = Point differential when the player is on the field; Pts = Points; Eval: player evaluation calculated from positive actions – negative actions.
