Pacers take 2-0 lead over Knicks as
Pascal Siakam scores 39 points in 114-109 victory
[May 24, 2025]
By BRIAN MAHONEY
NEW YORK (AP) — The Indiana Pacers are headed home, halfway to a
chance to play for an elusive NBA title.
They might prefer to stay right where they are.
Pascal Siakam scored a playoff career-high 39 points, and the Pacers
beat the New York Knicks 114-109 on Friday night for a 2-0 lead in
the Eastern Conference finals.
Game 3 is Sunday night in Indiana, which will be rocking all day
long with the Indianapolis 500 being run that afternoon. The Pacers
can only hope to be as good there as they've been on the road, where
they have won six straight games since falling at Milwaukee in Game
3 of the first round.
“We have a long way to go and it’s only going to get tougher for
us,” Siakam said.
Myles Turner added 16 points and Tyrese Haliburton had 14 points, 11
assists and eight rebounds for the Pacers, who lost to the Lakers in
2000 in their only NBA Finals appearance.
Siakam finished 15 for 23 from the field on a night nobody else on
the high-scoring Pacers had more than five baskets.
“Special game,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. “In the first half
he was the guy that got us going and got us through some difficult
stretches.”
Jalen Brunson had 36 points and 11 assists for the Knicks, who need
a quick turnaround or their first appearance in the conference
finals in 25 years will be a brief one. They defended much better
after their crushing collapse in a 138-135 overtime loss in Game 1,
but couldn't find enough scoring to come back after a bad start to
the fourth quarter.
Mikal Bridges and Karl-Anthony Towns each had 20 points and seven
rebounds for the Knicks, but Towns played just 28 minutes as coach
Tom Thibodeau went longer with backup Mitchell Robinson, a much
better defender who grabbed nine rebounds.
[to top of second column] |
Indiana Pacers guard T.J. McConnell (9) passes the ball against New
York Knicks center Mitchell Robinson (23) and forward Mikal Bridges
(25) during the fourth quarter of Game 2 of the NBA basketball
Eastern Conference final, Friday, May 23, 2025, in New York. (AP
Photo/Adam Hunger)
No team has lost the first two games at home and
come back to win a series in the conference finals.
“Going into the fourth quarter it’s a tie ballgame. We've just got
to make better plays, more winning plays,” Thibodeau said.
It was tied at 81 after three, before the Pacers opened the fourth
with a 13-4 run to move ahead 94-85 on Siakam’s 3-pointer with 9:17
remaining. They would quickly push the margin back to around there
every time the Knicks got any momentum, and it was 110-100 after
another basket by Siakam with 2:45 to play.
The Knicks scored nine straight to make it 110-109 on Josh Hart’s
basket with 14 seconds to go. Aaron Nesmith made two free throws for
the Pacers, Brunson was well off on a 3-point attempt and Turner
finished it out with two free throws.
The 50th playoff meeting between the rivals — the Pacers lead 28-22,
all since 1993 — more closely resembled their defensive battles of
the 1990s than the shootout of two nights earlier.
Indiana raced to a 19-9 lead, but the Knicks quickly caught them
when Robinson and Deuce McBride entered and the game remained within
a single-digit margin nearly the entire rest of the night.
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