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New York Knicks star Karl-Anthony Towns gave Jalen Brunson flowers for his Game 5 heroics on Thursday night. New York was facing elimination in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Indiana Pacers, but kept its season going with this 111-94 victory. The Knicks' All-NBA duo was at the center of this encouraging win. Brunson set the tone in the first quarter, putting up 14 first-quarter points in a 32-point performance on just 18 shots.
Meanwhile, KAT recorded a third straight double-double for this series with 24 points and 13 rebounds. Towns was as aggressive as ever, attacking the basket, which was awesome to see and a huge reason why he was a +26 when in the game. The five-time All-Star credited his point guard for setting the tone in Game 5 in the postgame press conference.
“He (Brunson) was cooking. That’s what I saw. When he’s playing like that and he’s hitting shots, it energized everyone. Especially when you’re getting points at that rate, you've got to get some stops when cap is on that burner. We did a great job of executing and holding them to 23 points in the first quarter, which was something we did not do well in the last game. Again, it’s a testament to these guys after a tough last game, coming back to the drawing board, understanding the situation, and playing with that desperation.”
It's all hands on deck for the Knicks heading into Game 6
Bravo to head coach Tom Thibodeau and his team. They answered the call, playing with desperation against a rather complacent-looking Indiana Pacers. While Brunson and KAT were the stars on offense, the defense was overall terrific tonight, holding its high-scoring opponent to just 94 points. The defense dragged Tyrese Haliburton and the Pacers' offense into the mud for the first time this series, which needs to happen in Game 6. Because Indiana is going to throw some absolute haymakers on Saturday night.
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The magnifying glass will be on Towns and Brunson for this clash, but the trio of OG Anunoby, Mikal Bridges, and Josh Hart has to have their best game of the series by far to get this series back to Madison Square Garden. Anunoby, while solid on defense, has mainly been up-and-down on offense this series, in particular, shooting just 29.4% from three-point range. That has to change on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Bridges has also not been consistent from deep, but more importantly, he has to fight furiously over ball screens when he is guarding Tyrese Haliburton. Too many times, the star point guard in Game 4 was able to get into downhill and advantageous 4-3 situations, which is exactly why he put up a historic stat line. Mikal has to be more physical with Haliburton.
And then there's Josh Hart. The heart and soul of the Knicks have had a rough series overall so far. While Hart always plays like a warrior, there are too many times when the Pacers simply are not guarding him and double Jalen Brunson or Karl-Anthony Towns with his man. Josh has to make Indiana pay for those gambles, needs to clean up the turnovers, and cannot fall asleep on defense on backdoors and such. All three of these quality, winning, team-first players have it in them, but it's now or never on Saturday.
Overall, it will be a daunting task to escape Gainbridge Fieldhouse with a victory. Can this team do it? Absolutely. Will they? That remains to be seen.
