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2025 Round 3 Game Thread: Knicks @ Pacers, Game 3 – Make a Stand

The Knicks head to Indiana where they pretty much have to make a stand, hence the title of this post.

Six teams have made 0-2 comebacks, so it CAN be done, but it has to start now.

Let’s go, Knicks!

8 more wins to go!

The Dylan tune is “They Killed Him,” a super-cheesy song from Knocked Out Loaded.

504 replies on “2025 Round 3 Game Thread: Knicks @ Pacers, Game 3 – Make a Stand”

If Mitch does a better Predator imitation than Copeland, that would be a good start.

All these pregame show hosts are so Fing biased, even Ali LaForce is dressed in bright yellow today …. wow, really? New York vs Everybody!

eerie Paytonian vibes, let’s hope it’ll goes better this time, maybe it isn’t too late…

LET’S GO KNICKS! 🗽🏀🧡💙🧡🏀🗽

1. Protect the ball. Reduce live-ball turnovers.
2. Floor balance. Don’t allow 2 on 1 runouts.
3. Press up on three point shots. Run the Pacers off of the line.
4. If no one is guarding you, set picks (including off-ball screen) and/or flash to the rim.
5. Use the vertical game.

Let’s go Knicks.

We went up 2-0 before losing last year, time to turn the tables

Already forced more misses than all of the previous two 1st quarters (probably)

The defense looks completely different with Mitch.

The offense looks like a rock fight.

Putting the unplayable guy on the guy who scored 39 last game.

It’s an approach, I guess.

Can we please hit our damn free throws?

Can we please hit our layups?

It’ll do marvels for our game.

Mitch is dominating but everyone else is shooting scared.

Easily the best start of the series.

KAT is playing effective defense on Siakim.

This new guy on the Knicks is leading them in scoring…

Mikhal bricking left and right. Dude start hitting some shots please! I actually like KaT on siakam so far. More size on him and OG plays his stronger roamer roll

Indiana seems to have cooled off a bit, which is good news for us.

Marechal, it was coming off the cylinder. If they challenge it they’ll lose.

Marechal, it was coming off the cylinder. If they challenge it they’ll lose.

Thanks, I only saw that one replay and thought it was over the cylinder.

I guess Hart not starting hasn’t hurt the rebounding or defense much.

I assume the first sub is Mitch for Hart? Maybe Mikal for Deuce too?

I’m not a violent person but I really feel like punching Haliburton this whole series.

Their ability to exploit Brunson is something we should learn to do.

And he’s forcing too much on offense, it’s the first quarter for god’s sake!

That last foul on Turner was no foul. Bullshit call.

Hated that whistle on the Turner play.

We got away with one earlier in the quarter though

If Hart is not on the floor and the other team gets an OREB, he gets put in the game. Now what happens when he is in the game and the other team gets 3 OREBs/fouls in a row?

If the refs keep calling fouls every time 2 guys grapple for a rebound we’re fucked

Terrible lob by Hart. Mitch is not Ant Edwards, he can’t dunk something that low and behind him

At a certain point, Niesmith (sp I don’t care fuck that guy) should be sent into a brick wall screen. Dude has the Defensive equivalent of a Harden Whistle I’ve never seen anything like it.

@marechal Hali is my most hated NBA player for 3 years now so I couldn’t agree more.

You get a foul – and you get a foul – and you get a foul – and you get a foul. That foul on Toppin, man – Brunson gets bumped like that every drive. Fuck this.

This is reminding me of the Melo pacers series with the Roy Hibbert rule that existed for that series only.

Unbelievable.

This is probably the worst shooting lineup to see the NBA floor this year

Knicks won during the regular season because of their offense, trying to win now with these lineups against a team like Indiana is something.

Thibs definitely lurks on this site, given that Delon is playing actual minutes.

Knicks won during the regular season because of their offense, trying to win now with these lineups against a team like Indiana is something.

To be fair, Thibs didn’t ask Deuce to foul 3 times in a minute and a half of floor time.

Delon almost gets his 2nd steal… but Towns fouls with 2.7 seconds at half court

Q1 summary:
JB ball hogging
Mikhal bricking
OG MiA
Deuce fouling
Hart completely out of sorts …

Lucky to be only down 4.

Towns needs to demand the ball and remember he’s supposed to be the best offensive center in the East and his teammates need to look for him.

Mikhal needs to hit open threes
Hart needs to move and cut and get in the dunkers spot
We need to set better picks to get mismatches and doubles against brunson

Thibs is doing everything we wanted him to do, and it’s not really working. Although we’re still close, I suppose…

The players the team invested in this past offseason need to show up
-my take

Thibs is doing everything we wanted him to do, and it’s not really working. Although we’re still close, I suppose…

It helps when you do these things during the season and regularly instead of out of desperation.

Thibs is doing everything we wanted him to do, and it’s not really working. Although we’re still close, I suppose…

The problem is that even though these are better lineups, they have next to no reps playing with each other.

I’m ready to punch KAT in the face

If I could reach that high

Towns is a maddeningly up and down player.

Edit 1: And will someone just fucking guard the free throw line extended???? McConnell takes exclusively fourteen footers!

Edit 2: hart and towns…just no.

1st time they’ve called such a weak screen this entire playoffs

Towns is the best player for the pacers … Complete moronic play on both ends

The KAT experience is not fun. Leon panicked when he realized Robinson was out and I Hart left.

I feel happy that Thibs is trying new stuff but trying it in the regular season could have been good too…

I don’t know if Thibs is panicking or not, but if he was, it would look pretty much like this.

You have to just kind of chuckle at a lineup of Delon Wright-Landry Shamet-OG Anunoby-Josh Hart-Karl Anthony Towns

That would have been completely insane if it had worked

This is moronic. I don’t even know what to say. What is this lineup? What is KAT doing? What is this defense?

Thibs too inflexible when we had a shot to win and flailing now that we’re desperate.

What a sad end to a great season. This is a sweep 100%.

Thibs just going bonkers with these lineups now

Thibs revenge game…against the fans

This is moronic.

You guys spent the whole day yesterday asking for this

I’ve committed to no sound for the rest of the game and it’s already much more enjoyable even though the Knicks are ass. Kevin Harter’s continuously over-excited drone that always drops as his sentences end is absolutely maddening.

It’s early, but the Pacers definitely look like a better team than us

“We should try different lineups”

“Ok here’s Delon, Shamet, OG, Hart and KAT. GOOD LUCK FUCKERS”

Meanwhile, does Reggie really not know how to pronounce “Thibs?”

Delon’s screen navigation is quite something. He does a pirouette every time and loses his man.

That sequence by KAT would merit being benched for the rest of the quarter in the regular season.

Floor balance disaster!

Thibs isn’t even trying to win the game, this is a “fuck you” to his critics, trying to show them that playing other lineups was dumb.

We criticized excess government spending and Thibs responded with Musk-style DOGE

On a positive note Yankees have their biggest division lead going into Memorial Day since 1998 which is a pretty good omen.

Thibs you moron, the point of starting Mitch wasn’t to say you started him. It was to not have KaT as your defensive anchor ever

Ok, if you ever needed evidence that Tom Thibodeau should not be coaching in playoff games this is pretty much Exhibit A. This is some serious clown shoes shit

Ariel hukporti would be better if you’re playing a 1 center lineup

BBA I love ya, but what the Yankees are doing or not doing in May is of little importance to me compared to this.

Ok, if you ever needed evidence that Tom Thibodeau should not be coaching in playoff games this is pretty much Exhibit A. This is some serious clown shoes shit

This is what will get him fired if they lose this series.

What was that by Mathurin? Donnie? You’re our resident Pacers fan, any explanation for that?

The other theory is that Thibs wants KAT gone and is playing this lineup to fuck with him.

Yankees are the only thing keeping me sane while watching Landry Shamet trying to save the Knicks season…

Thibs reads the board and is trolling us

EB, someday you will come around and kneel before the Maths

Maybe some day, but for now he can’t pass and he can’t play defense

Coaches rarely win the “it’s him or me” battle when it comes to stars.

The tweak everyone pointed out was use data to set your lineups, and ensure kat or brunson are in the lineup offensively at all times, and do not ever have KaT as the sole big, what this moron heard was let’s try random lineups in a must win and see

The thing that drives me crazy is that the Knicks are unable to get Haliburton on Brunson ever.

Definitely offense. Another idiotic foul by KAT. With a guard on him.

Bench Towns for the rest of the game and send him to Siberia for the offseason

I don’t know that they can revert this. KAT didn’t push Haliburton, he pushed his arm as Hali was kind of holding him.

Huge bullshit call, Foster is Fostering as usual…

Marginal contact my ass

KYN – do yoga. Your future self will thank you.

That’s some AI bullshit right there.

Didn’t seem enough to overturn the call, they were both grappling with their arms

For what its worth all the writers on Twitter are shocked that call was overturned.

The tweak everyone pointed out was use data to set your lineups, and ensure kat or brunson are in the lineup offensively at all times, and do not ever have KaT as the sole big, what this moron heard was let’s try random lineups in a must win and see

Key word is “moron”.

He got badly exposed down the stretch of the season and into the playoffs.

They are playing genuinely horribly in this one. Just not good enough, flat out.

If you can’t stop them with your defensive lineup, why not go 5 out and try to outshoot them.

Thibs is absolutely flailing right now. Hart is giving us nothing but probably plays the entire seocnd. Random lineups. No continuity. Turnovers, fouls, everything. No one is hitting shots and everyone is out of rhythm because we never practiced any different looks in the regular season. They’re breaking the game open and we’re doing fucking nothing.

And finally the timeout after he practically let the game go. The players suck tonight, but this is a massive indictment of the coaching too. He cannot continue as coach if this result holds.

The KAT call reversal ended the game. It shouldn’t have, but it did. They let go of the rope.

They quit.

No timeout from Thibs.

I’ll be glad when he is not the coach here anymore.

I’m trying to decide which good team I hate the most, the 2024 Yankees or the 2025 Knicks.

Well we made the ECF. They completely took the fun out of it but we had a good run

Possibly the worst 5 consecutive offensive possessions I’ve ever seen.

I’m done watching this, torture for the eyes. Fire Thibs, and trade Towns!

Did someone Freaky Friday Boston and Indy? I can’t watch this shit. Too emotionally invested. Yal will have to forgive me for turning it off

The vibes seem off since the beginning… it’ll be very hard to get back on this one.

It’s probably too late but they should try making some shots in the second half

This is what will get him fired if they lose this series.

Let’s hope this go from your lips to Leon’s ears…

I’d like to thank Tom Thibodeau for his service, and for getting us this far. But he gotta go. This game alone is a fireable offense.

New “defensive” lineup to start and they project to be well under 50 points for the half.

I mean this officiating is terrible. Knicks are getting called for everything

KAT throws off the team’s rhythm with his constant foul trouble. Most are silly fouls too. I am just not sure why he hasn’t improved this during his career. I don’t think you can expect him too now.

The team desperately needs more ball handlers. The Celtics and Pacers had multiple players who can handle the ball and make plays. The Knicks are very limited in that area.

Winning the Boston series was fun, but if I knew it was going to lead to this I would have preferred to lose to Detroit and raise the probability that Thibs would get fired.

The team desperately needs more ball handlers. The Celtics and Pacers had multiple players who can handle the ball and make plays. The Knicks are very limited in that area.

They do have Kolek, maybe they’ll get him serious court time in year 2

Signs of life, but I don’t even know if I can watch more than four games of this shit.

I’d like to thank Tom Thibodeau for his service, and for getting us this far. But he gotta go. This game alone is a fireable offense.

I think this is a mentally exhausted team from the long tough season, long minutes, back to back tough series, NY pressure and killer loss in game 1.

It’s like he listened to all the people criticizing him, decided to make some changes, but actually understood nothing that was being said all along.

Didn’t turn it off. Imma support the squad til the bitter end. And it looks like the end is gonna be the firing of Thomas Joseph Thibodeau. Sheesh

The Knicks played like trash, but the refs killed them in so many ways. Deuce getting those 3 fouls, Brunson with 4, KAT’s and-one reversal. It doesn’t excuse them, but they have had an awful whistle all series.

Maybe in MAGA America one cannot escape an Indiana-OKC series.

The Amazon commercial with the Ghostface song in it has been the highlight so far

I was told repeatedly that the on off numbers showed all the Knicks had to do was put in Mitch or Deuce for one of the starters.

Maybe Deuce getting 3 fouls in a minute cost them this game

It’s more important than it might seem. Our 2 best 5-man lineups this postseason both have Deuce in them.

Rose may not fire Thibs, because then he gets the eye of the fans. Thibs has been awful, but he also lets others hide.

The fuckin rotations man! What in the entire fuck? Ok you start Mitch- great! But you bring all guards off the bench? When you start to miss the easy decisions, the end is nigh. Don’t get me wrong- I’m all for some Delon Wright minutes with the way McConnell and Nesmith have been killing us. But really, Thibs? We don’t have the offensive system or length to go super small. WTF

I think thib’s interpretation of the criticism was we are getting off to bad starts so let me start Mitch, bc either that or he’s trolling us. Either way he’s gotta go. He’s not helping the defense and he’s def not helping the offense.

Talked to Olympic bball sister, who had only been watching the Knicks in solidarity with me during the playoffs. Said it’s all the coach. Crazy lineups, no TO when they were struggling, a discombobulated team. Coach gotta go.

Edit: also said Towns is unplayable

If they get beat really, really badly, can it count for 2 losses? The way we’d be spared having to watch game 4?

To potentially get swept by a team thats not going down as some all time great team is bad business

Let’s be honest, this series was over the moment Game 1 ended the way it did.

The Knicks have shot horribly, committed foolish fouls and gotten a horrible whistle.

Deuce, Shamet and Hart gave nothing. KAT’s second quarter was as bad as it can get. Brunson is coming up small.

Maybe Deuce getting 3 fouls in a minute cost them this game

That hurt a lot.

We wanted some Delon Wright, but to replace Payne’s handful of minutes, not instead of Deuce because he was in foul trouble. Deuce is critical. And we didn’t need Shamet.

Great line by Kenny Smith: Thibs wouldn’t play 9 guys in a baseball game…

If we make it back to the Garden, and the crowd doesn’t chant “DAN-NY HUR-LEY!”, I will be very disappointed.

LOL Kenny Smith finally said something both poignant and hilarious when I started typing this entry.

“Tom Thibodeau wouldn’t play 9 players in a baseball game”

Yup.
At one point of his career, I thought Thibs was near Pop’s level because he was doing a phenomenal job in Chicago. I was wrong. So wrong. I’m a Thibs fan, so this pains me. He got us here and completely shit the bed.

It’s absolutely shameful that in this game Indiana is playing harder on defense than we are … And they’re up 2-0.

And Fucking Towns, where is your pride dude? All NBA, all star starter playing like a back up big.

Can a team win a championship with Towns as it’s best player the answer is a clear, resounding hell no.

Get Walker Kessler balance the lineup and trade one of Josh Hart or Mikhal if you need to, or get Giannis if that’s even possible by getting rid of KaT.

Fire Thibs yes, but this roster needs to change

Everything this season has prepared us for this moment. A regime change after game three.

Pacers have outrebounded the Knicks 23-17. That is effort and concentration.

did Kenny Smith say they need to go after Dan Hurley Poindexter?

He’s not the right coach to maximize the roster we have.

It’s also not the right roster fit.

Brunson and Towns are not the right fit and we are constantly trying to patch things together to make something work without even having a good bench.

I’m not sure if they are going to give up on the Towns experiment after just one year. I’m not sure what we could get even if they are. But I hope they at least see that it’s time for a new head coach.

Gotta think this is a pretty good sign that intractable schtickerry is untenable.

did Kenny Smith say they need to go after Dan Hurley Poindexter?

No..it was the wouldn’t play 9 players line

Re: the KAT/Brunson fit

I also thought that Cleveland had the wrong fit with Allen/Mobley and Mitchell/Garland until Kenny Atkinson came in, made some tweaks, and turned them into the #1 offense in the league and #2 in net rating.

This is TNT last series covering the NBA so I’m surprised they aren’t going more out killing the team

Nah..fuck that refs..Hali shuffled his feet on that 3. That’s a clear travel

KAT is having the worst game a player can have.

Couldn’t get worse than Randle

Mikal came closer to making a basket on that pass than on most of his shots.

Great line by Kenny Smith: Thibs wouldn’t play 9 guys in a baseball game…

Well, at least we got this GOAT line from this godawful series

Nah..fuck that refs..Hali shuffled his feet on that 3. That’s a clear travel

Amen.

You guys spent the whole day yesterday asking for this

We asked for Thibs to be smart, not to fight yesterday’s battle.

Don’t think anything he could have done would have made a difference tonight, though.

Asking for Delon was 100% about not seeing Payne. I wanted to stagger the starting unit to minimize their minutes and use Delon if needed for an extra 5min. I did not want a Delon-Shamet lineup.

Pacers have outrebounded the Knicks 23-17. That is effort and concentration.

And after the first 6:24 when Hart first subbed in the Knicks were out rebounding Ind 10-6 and winning 13-10

They are overplaying guys like they would do to a shitty high school team.

I should know

I knew in my bones this was over in G1 and I think we all did too.

Getting swept here is so much worse than just losing to Boston would have been, but it us the Knicksiest outcome and thus was written in the stars.

13 point of lead wasn’t safe against them with 2:45 remaining at home, but it’s ironclad against us at the half. I’m just rooting for Thivs and Towns to be gone ar this point, but even that is a half measure because this us a teardown. Bridges is a catastrophic asset incineration and Brunson can’t be the best player on a championship team.

Our chances in the 2030s hinge on management understanding that the best move is to leverage his immense trade value

Towns continues the idiotic run killing plays. WTF was that pass … A true joykill

I peeked at the box score, and oddly enough even though the Knicks are sucking from three (29%), the Pacers are shooting 23.5%. No good reason to be losing this game.

Lots of bad reasons, though…

Randle is less talented, but has way more hunger than Towns. Towns is a little puppy who happens to be a 7 footer

Wright-Deuce-Shamet-Hart-Mitch is a lineup I wouldn’t even be interested in watching during preseason yet they’re making a run.

God bless Deuce for his ability to generate offense from a total standstill.

I was about to say Deuce might be our best player and then he coughed it up

The NBA probably wants the Knicks to win this game with a horrible ratings finals incoming

Towns literally let turner do a five second dive to the rim without covering him at all

Deuce, Shamet and Hart gave nothing.

Actually think Shamet was OK. And Deuce had been good this quarter until the TO.

I was told repeatedly that the on off numbers showed all the Knicks had to do was put in Mitch or Deuce for one of the starters.

And you told us that if you lose to this Pacers team you’re a bad coach.

Even if I wanted Towns gone in a Giannis trade, even if he demanded a trade here the Bucks would just hold him.

Too bad we decided to play our worst game if the season today because Pacers have been pretty mediocre. 10 points may as well be 100

Would be pretty funny if we won this game given how awful the first 30 minutes were.

I thought for sure KAT was about to get stripped from behind, he picked up his dribble just in time.

The Pacers aren’t ready to face this misfits lineup, they didn’t even know some of these players existed.

Thibs with the galaxy brain playing shit lineups to get us down 20 to motivate us

Hart is killing us on defense right now

This loss is gonna hurt extra bad now.

Is Nesmith like hurt hurt?

You know I’ve always believed in us. From the very beginning.

Sure looked like the first contact was with the extended elbow.

Fucking Nesmith back in Pacers luck never fails.

Game over

Whatever happens down the stretch, this is a KAT comeback, not a dead cat bounce.

Credit to Nesmith for playing hurt out there, but he looks less mobile and the Pacers’ offense is not really flowing anymore.

OG got hooked and still came up with block. WOW

I still don’t understand how they have Reggie on this series and not Breen

If this challenge gets overturned after the Brunson call didn’t I’m going to do something drastic

It’s me or every challenge in this series has gone against us?

… and has been followed by a Pacers basket 🤦🏻‍♂️

Just woke up from a 3rd quarter induced nap. Knicks have a pulse!

It would seem like Mitch for Hart would be a very obvious substitution right now but whatever

the KAT “travel”: gather step, step #1, step #2, starts falling backward on one foot, hits the baby hook. Did the refs think his plant foot moved at the end? I didn’t see it.

Bridges with the weak layup and Deuce hit iron again on an open three… Jesus…

On the bright side, I feel better about Mikal middies after seeing his layups

Foul on the invisible 6th man. He’s disappeared recently

Refs vacillate between “mauling” and “feather touch” for fouls in the paint on a whim

This was a fucking harrowing watch. I want to take this series so bad but I may not survive it watching it.

Following this team makes me feel more like being a parent than a fan but love is love is love

That was so satisfying.

Really glad we did not lose and possibly get swept. Still in with a punchers chance.

Yes!
I surrender, this team and these players are beyond my brain skills 🤯
How can a player (KAT) be so awful and then so unstoppable in the same game?
Kudos to Thibs for keeping Brunson on the bench while the misfits lineup was working.

I had to stop posting for the cause. KaT I take back everything. Everything I said is about you!

Kudos to Thibs for keeping Brunson on the bench while the misfits lineup was working.

He also went back to the maligned starting 5 lineup at 98-98 and it won the game

Wait so they are allowed to miss 30-footers when trailing late?

Praying for Nesmith’s ankles to swell up faster than Clarence at Chippendale’s

If we steal game 4 the mental edge seings back to us because when someone should be dead and isn’t, that is fucking scary

I credit this win to the strip club I went to at halftime, the bar was not getting it done

I am happy.

I feel like this matchup has brought out some of my best work, I’m glad it is being extended.

As usual, I wore my Willis Reed jersey during the game. When the game looked lost, I rubbed #19 on my chest and prayed to The Captain: please help us win this game!

And look at those minutes! 9 men!! 13 for Wright, 11 for Landry. No one played more than 37 minutes. No one looked exhausted at the end. Fuck you Kenny Smith! Only we get to make fun of Thibs.

That was an epic 4th quarter by KAT but I have no idea where the fuck that came from

Brunson minus 6.

Everyone else positive.

Landry now the greatest Knick Landry ever confirmed with the plus 12

For those who won’t click through to Twitter, here is Shea Serrano’s post:

“I honestly believe that Josh Hart would dive into an active volcano if you told him that there was a late game rebound in there.”

I haven’t changed a single opinion on the players, overall talent, fit or Thibs, but at least they didn’t quit. A lot of teams would have thrown in the towel. I thought they were mentally done, but I was wrong on that. They had every reason to quit, but they didn’t quit.

I got my father in law who lives abroad and stayed with us for a couple months during this run addicted to the Knicks. We went to Detroit game 1 and Celtics game 6. He’s ever an optimist as he hasn’t had to face the pain. We got him an iPad so we could FaceTime with him as we watched the games. That was one of the most beautiful experiences just now Facetiming with him after the game and seeing a 70 year old new Knicks fan so pumped about the team. Great night to be a Knicks fan!

If the Knicks had won game 1 and stunk up the joint in Games 2 and 3, it would be worse.

KAT went from unplayable (can’t put him on the court) to unplayable (can’t even think about going up against him)

“I feel like this matchup has brought out some of my best work”

I agree, it’s as if you went from finger paint to crayons…

Our away fans almost drowning out the TNT postgame broadcast with “KNICKS IN SIX” chants is music to my ears.

This is the epitome of what coming back from the dead means. Down 0-2 on your home floor, down 20 in Game 3 away, in foul trouble, and playing like shit. Obituaries started being written, KAT was ready to be exiled to Easter Island, Thibs was to be executed on a skewer by a revived Holy Inquisition squad, and so on. Ready to surrender your soul? Nope! They came back and won it!. The epitome of coming back from the dead.

The second half defense which finally managed string together stops against Indiana should be part of grad school curricula. No lucky bounces and no refs could save the Pacers tonight.

Now, we are alive, but we are still down. On Tuesday, we need to maintain the same energy and aggression we showed in the second half.

Insane as it sounds if Deuce doesn’t get those fouls this might be an somewhat comfortable Knicks win.

KAT and 4 guys who can defend might be a real look this series the Pacers have absolutely nobody who can stop him

Today is a GREAT day to be a Knicks fan. Third twenty-point comeback of these playoffs.

KAT carried the Knicks like Forrest Gump carried Lieutenant Dan.

I waited to come here until after the Knicks won just to see how the thread flipped all at once. Epic!

The way Hart calmly sank the two free throws after taking a car crash-level impact to the floor getting the rebound

And I know “social media” is bad but right now it is absolutely fantastic

Fixed it for you. 😉

For those wondering, this is the Chalamet look

That is an outstanding homage to Jean-Ralphio Saperstein in his home state.

KAT carried the Knicks like Forrest Gump carried Lieutenant Dan.

Good laugh, Ephus. I was cursing him out pretty hard and happily had to eat my words. Hard to explain him as a player.

Second-half Thibs was good tonight. I was praying he would leave that lineup in this time and he did! And I was wrong, he was right – I wanted Brunson to come in for Hart and not Deuce, but Hart with that monster rebound and free throws was clutch. Props where they’re deserved.

This. Team.

Lost in the KAT 4th quarter explosion was the smothering defense played by OG and Bridges. Pacers got no easy shots down the stretch.

Obi breakaway dunk to put the Pacers back up 15 with like 4 minutes to go in the 3rd felt like ballgame to me. Credit to the team for locking in on defense and KAT for eviscerating them in the 4th that was awesome

Missed this one wire to wire but am so glad we avoided a KATastrophe.

I liked this game better than the first two games of the series.

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Pacers got no easy shots down the stretch.

That was the whole point. They scored 22 points in the third, and 20 in the fourth, including those from “strange calls, to say the least” that Thibs mentioned in the presser.

When you see Obi, Mathurin, Bradley, and Sheppard getting significant minutes, it stands to reason that Thibs can play Delon and Shamet.

The Knicks played great defense with KAT at the 5 in the 4th quarter.

I think the key to this team, and perhaps the reason why the starting lineup struggles, is that Brunson and KAT together on defense is not tenable when the opponent is trying to explore your weakness every time. Mitch + starters or Deuce + starters ends up working perhaps for this reason.

I know I focus more on Hart’s effect on spacing, but perhaps it’s all about the defense.

Offense wins games, defense wins championships. That’s an old saying.

Our Defense on the 4th was extremely intense and electric.
Idk what they drank or sniffed in the bench but that was PRIME SHIT outthere!

The lineup that should have won game 1 for us was also a Brunson-less lineup that featured KAT, Deuce, and three defenders. So that’s two times now we have stumbled on to a great lineup bc Brunson got 5 fouls. Let’s pray Thibs noticed bc we are on to something. (I’m not suggesting we bench Brunson just pointing out how we need to play when he sits.)

Knicks low key doing a very good job overall limiting the Pacers 3pt attempts during the series.

We can build a competitive team around KAT or Brunson, building one around both of them is a fools errand. Mitch and Deuce should start. KAT would be the greatest sixth man ever.

Knicks low key doing a very good job overall limiting the Pacers 3pt attempts during the series.

We contained their 3pts the entire game but they were killing us from mid-range in the first half. We took that away, too, in the second half.

Shut.The.Water.Off.
No. Uncontested. Shots.

I looked at Caitlin Cooper’s twitter and the general complaint from her and Pacers fans was that the Pacers got into a serious overpassing rut looking for the ideal shot in the 2nd half, which apparently they are wont to do.

Fred Katz on X:

Reporting from Indiana:

When I walked into the Knicks’ locker room postgame, Mitchell Robinson said to me, “You know, I have a friend who looks just like you.” I said, “Oh, really?” to which he responded, “Yeah, he’s really ugly.”

NBA.com has a highlight reel of the Knicks lock-down defense there in the fourth that is unreal watching it play after play after play…

Watching Brunson and KAT in the presser…. Man, Jalen needs a nap. Dude looks exhausted.

Rereading this game thread is gonna be hilarious … We all need therapists lol

The Pacers shot 20% from deep, so that’s probably not happening again (they are still shooting better than the Knicks for the series though).

But the Knicks also got the shittiest games from Mikal and Brunson, so hopefully that offsets any positive shooting regression.

Shamet with the 50.6 net rating *cough*… as I’ve been saying all along, got a get ShamWow on the court

Noticed the ghouls are quiet now, Raven? They’re hiding! 😂😂😂

No, we need no apologies and we don’t believe their excuses. I’d only wish they’d promise not to start bitching again after a loss. No chance, alas!

It would be great if Thibs would just get info in game about lineups and deploy what’s working that night. I doubt he learned that from tonight though.

I’ve been on this blog since like 2005 and I have no idea who you are so how about you go take “ghouls” and cram it up your ass

Like I keep saying, this series doesn’t start until home team wins a game. And so we march on…

I think the key to this team, and perhaps the reason why the starting lineup struggles, is that Brunson and KAT together on defense is not tenable when the opponent is trying to explore your weakness every time. Mitch + starters or Deuce + starters ends up working perhaps for this reason.

That’s more or less what I’ve been saying for a long time.

You can get away with one non shooter or one negative defender, but when you have two or more of either it compounds into a more difficult situation than you’d think intuitively.

We have ways of trying to mitigate the problem, but none are perfect and our coach has practically been oblivious or too stubborn to try them until tonight. This should have be experimented with in the regular season so they’d all be more familiar with each other and we could see what works best.

It will be interesting to see what Leon does in the off season. I trust that our management understands the issue even though our coach often seems clueless. But it’s not easy to fix, especially because we don’t have assets to add quality. We have assets to swap quality.

Just “watched” the game thread this morning (in Italy) bc I had to miss the actual game. Hahaha. That was something. Go Knicks!!

Rewatching on Tv after graveyard shift/mobile watch live!
Let’s Do it on Replay baby!
🤩

Didn’t know KAT had this in him…in a real game.
If he can play like this or is not a negative force he was for seven Q before that last one we have a chance to make corn mash.

Only 25 3PA given up last night – and lots and lots of 1-on-1 mismatch hunting by Indy. 90 games into the season, that’s the 4th fewest they’ve generated all season.

Re: KAT – Vecenie said it and it’s 100% true — we’ll see what happens the rest of this series, but that was a legacy 4th quarter for him. 20 points in the 4th quarter in what was basically a season-saving performance. He is so maddening.

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