It wasn’t much longer than a day ago that the Indiana Pacers were considered shoo-ins to advance to the NBA Finals with a 3-1 series lead over the New York Knicks. It wasn’t even an unpopular opinion to think the Timberwolves had a better chance of completing their 3-1 comeback against the Oklahoma City Thunder before their Game 5 trouncing.
Unlike Anthony Edwards and the Timberwolves however, Jalen Brunson and the Knicks answered with force in Game 5 and extended the series to a crucial sixth game with a resounding 111-94 win. Brunson answered the call like the superstar many suspect he is with 32 points on 12-of-18 shooting, while Tyrese Haliburton was held to just eight points on 2-of-7 shooting despite a relatively dominant first four games of the series.
The pressing question now is whether Game 5 was a fluke for New York or not. With the series returning to Indiana and the Pacers still in control, Game 6 will surely answer that question. In the meantime, here are three reasons why New York can pull off the series comeback.
Deep In The Water
The Indiana Pacers have had a dominant postseason run. The Knicks are the first team to even take Indiana to a Game 6, an achievement that shouldn’t be scoffed at considering the Pacers’ dispatching of a former championship-winning Milwaukee Bucks core as well as a historically strong 64-win Cavaliers team in five games apiece.
With the Pacers now in deeper water than they have been, maybe they’ll have trouble responding. The Pacers have been so good throughout the playoffs that they haven’t really had to look themselves in the mirror. They do now with this series heading into its decisive games, and its not a guarantee that a winner is looking back at them.
Captain Brunson
A common characteristic among great playoff teams throughout the years, and those that have completed 3-1 best-of-seven comebacks, is an elite go-to scoring preference. In the cases of the ‘03 Pistons, the ‘15 Rockets and the ‘16 Warriors, the go-to scoring presence came from the backcourt.
While Brunson may be closer to ‘03 Rip Hamilton than he is to prime Stephen Curry or James Harden, he’s still the most menacing scoring threat in the series and has a proven reputation of both postseason and crunch time heroics. Like Hamilton, he also has a pretty strong and scrappy supporting cast too, as evidenced by the instant classic photograph of blood streaming down Josh Hart’s face from Game 5 of the Celtics series.
Game 7 In The Garden
If the Knicks can just survive what will surely be a grueling Game 6 in Indianapolis, they’ll be met with a return to basketball Valhalla. And it will be for the biggest game the arena has seen since the turn of the millennium. The celebrity row for this series has already been ridiculous, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Jesus Christ himself somehow pulled off the Second Coming before Saturday to sit courtside with Ben Stiller, Spike Lee and Timothee Chalamet.
You have to imagine any team that blew two consecutive elimination games with a trip to the NBA Finals on the line would be feeling the weight. Now imagine if you had to play that Game 7 in the most iconic arena in human history, in front of just about every celebrity or idol that you can even fathom? That will be Haliburton and company’s reality if this thing stretches to a game seven.
