The New York Knicks and Indiana Pacers kicked off their Eastern Conference semifinals on Monday night at Madison Square Garden. In what was predicted to be a pretty tough battle, Game 1 certainly lived up to the billing.
It was a back-and-forth affair, with the Knicks seizing control early in the game. But, the pressure and fast-paced style of play of the Pacers looked to start wearing on them in the second quarter.
A big reason for that was the bench production. Indiana’s second unit destroyed the bench unit of New York, led by TJ McConnell and Obi Toppin. After both scoring 20+ points in their elimination game against the Milwaukee Bucks in Round 1, they both had big games again on Monday.
McConnell scored 18 points with two rebounds and two assists, finishing with a plus/minus ratio of +9. Toppin scored 12 points with six rebounds and three assists, along with a jaw-dropping highlight dunk on a fast break.
The energy both players, along with Isaiah Jackson, bring to the court matches what New York’s energizers bring. Some timely baskets from Ben Sheppard gave the Indiana Pacers bench unit a huge scoring edge, combining for 46 points compared to three for the Knicks.
However, the New York Knicks held the edge with the starting units in the game. The entire starting five scored in double-figures, led by another incredible performance by Jalen Brunson, who scored 43 points.
Donte DiVincenzo had a huge second half, scoring 23 out of his 25 points after halftime. He provided a scoring punch and timely plays defensively to help steady things. Josh Hart’s coming out party continued, as he scored 24 points with 13 rebounds, eight assists and three steals.
Down the stretch, it was the brilliance of Brunson that gave the New York Knicks an advantage over the Indiana Pacers. He is the exact kind of closer teams want in crunch time, while Indiana is lacking that. Their All-Star point guard Tyrese Haliburton was nonexistent, scoring only six points with eight assists, two rebounds and four steals.
This is a tough loss for Indiana, as they limited New York on the offensive glass, which was a point of emphasis coming into the series. But, they still lost the rebounding edge 40-32, as they went more than eight minutes without securing a rebound when the Knicks went on their run.
Game 2 between the Indiana Pacers and New York Knicks is set for Wednesday night at 8 p.m. ET. It will be back at Madison Square Garden before the series shifts to Indianapolis for Games 3 and 4 over the weekend.
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