Knicks/Pacers
The Indiana Pacers take game 4 130-121
Haliburton played well in this one. 32 points, 15 assists, 12 rebounds, no turnovers.
The Pacers are playing like they're the better team, and the Knicks are playing like they're just trying to steal games. The starters for the Knicks cannot figure how to get consistent stops against Indiana's offense, and they're being picked apart on switches. Mikal Bridges for his part is being taken out of plays with ease on what seems like every screen. Tonight, even when the Pacers had their dry spells, the Knicks starters were still unable to capitalize for any real control before the Pacers got it going again. Some of that could be attributed to some unfortunate foul calls down the stretch, breaking momentum, but you never want to leave the game in the hands of the officials, especially on the road.
Nesmith is bothering Brunson defensively, and at times you're seeing Brunson resort to foul baiting, similar to what he tried unsuccessfully in the Pistons series. His difficulties and the work he's having to expend there, along with the fact that the Pacers are targeting him on the offensive end have significantly reduced his impact, or what it was expected to be, in this series. Despite scoring 31 points tonight, leading the team in that category, he finished the night with a -16 plus/minus. Second worst only to Mitchell Robinson who played less than 20 minutes for his struggles. I didn't expect Brunson to struggle this much against Nesmith. What makes it all the more confusing is that it wasn't like this in game 1. I'm not sure if it's in his head or if he's nursing an injury, but on several possessions there have been openings that he'd normally find a way to take advantage of against similar defenders, spots that he'd be able to dance to and use his footwork to get to, but not here. It's not that it looks like he's not trying. It's that it looks like he can't do it. And it's had Nesmith out there looking like a defensive player of the year candidate. On a bad ankle in this game no less.
KAT continues to find himself in foul trouble, committing two fouls within the first five minutes of the game, and getting himself subbed out for Josh Hart. Whatever plans there might have been of featuring him more early after the success of game 3 were halted right then and there.
Hart didn't have a very good game himself, committing four turnovers in the first half, and losing his assignment repeatedly on the defensive end. Multiple sequences of Hart's guy cutting to the rim for easy buckets. The hustle is there in other aspects of his game, especially when he's grabbing contested rebounds out of the air, but it doesn't offset the turnovers and defensive missteps, which were particularly bad in tonight's game.
Bridges is struggling defensively, but I think that's in part due to the other holes in the defense that he's having to account for, particularly in guard actions. He's being switched out on nearly every play so that the Pacers' ballhandlers can attack their guy, and when he isn't being switched out, the pace of the Pacers' offensive schemes are quick to exploit the Knicks' spacing issues, caused by their defensive deficiencies. The problem with Bridges is that this is all exacerbated when the Knicks are going to him on the offensive end, and he can't convert. But this to me is more of an issue with the overall scheme, when he's out there with lineups where he has to make up for guys' defensive deficiencies, than it is an issue with him as a capable player.
Shamet and Wright once again gave the Knicks some good minutes, flustering the Pacers with their defense. The Knicks actually brought a 10 point lead down to 1 in the second quarter, with those two playing significant minutes.
The Knicks went with the starters this time for the majority of the fourth, and for the most part, the Pacers have had that lineup figured out. They know the mismatches, and they continue to hunt for them. At best, the Knicks were able to match the scoring, climbing back when the Pacers found themselves in a lull period, but a few key foul calls later, and the Pacers were able to rebuild their cushion, and regain control.
Bennedict Mathurin had some productive minutes for the Pacers tonight, doing some of the dirty work, and proving to be effective at drawing whistles late. Obi Toppin had a three pointer on an inbound pass from Haliburton, with 2.7 seconds left on the shot clock that all but iced the game, putting the Pacers up 10 with under 50 seconds to go.
Overall, the Pacers are doing a much better job than the Knicks at finding and exploiting their mismatches, staying on the offensive, being the attackers/aggressors in this series, while the Knicks continue to play off of the back foot, falling back into the trap of trying to win with their guys, who are clearly struggling to solve the Pacers offense, instead of just trying to win. Of course KAT's continuing issues with foul trouble didn't help in this game, nor did Josh's turnovers.
The series heads back to MSG for game 5 this Thursday, where the Knicks will try to stave off elimination, and the Pacers will try to close this series out and move on.
The Indiana Pacers take game 4 130-121
Haliburton played well in this one. 32 points, 15 assists, 12 rebounds, no turnovers.
The Pacers are playing like they're the better team, and the Knicks are playing like they're just trying to steal games. The starters for the Knicks cannot figure how to get consistent stops against Indiana's offense, and they're being picked apart on switches. Mikal Bridges for his part is being taken out of plays with ease on what seems like every screen. Tonight, even when the Pacers had their dry spells, the Knicks starters were still unable to capitalize for any real control before the Pacers got it going again. Some of that could be attributed to some unfortunate foul calls down the stretch, breaking momentum, but you never want to leave the game in the hands of the officials, especially on the road.
Nesmith is bothering Brunson defensively, and at times you're seeing Brunson resort to foul baiting, similar to what he tried unsuccessfully in the Pistons series. His difficulties and the work he's having to expend there, along with the fact that the Pacers are targeting him on the offensive end have significantly reduced his impact, or what it was expected to be, in this series. Despite scoring 31 points tonight, leading the team in that category, he finished the night with a -16 plus/minus. Second worst only to Mitchell Robinson who played less than 20 minutes for his struggles. I didn't expect Brunson to struggle this much against Nesmith. What makes it all the more confusing is that it wasn't like this in game 1. I'm not sure if it's in his head or if he's nursing an injury, but on several possessions there have been openings that he'd normally find a way to take advantage of against similar defenders, spots that he'd be able to dance to and use his footwork to get to, but not here. It's not that it looks like he's not trying. It's that it looks like he can't do it. And it's had Nesmith out there looking like a defensive player of the year candidate. On a bad ankle in this game no less.
KAT continues to find himself in foul trouble, committing two fouls within the first five minutes of the game, and getting himself subbed out for Josh Hart. Whatever plans there might have been of featuring him more early after the success of game 3 were halted right then and there.
Hart didn't have a very good game himself, committing four turnovers in the first half, and losing his assignment repeatedly on the defensive end. Multiple sequences of Hart's guy cutting to the rim for easy buckets. The hustle is there in other aspects of his game, especially when he's grabbing contested rebounds out of the air, but it doesn't offset the turnovers and defensive missteps, which were particularly bad in tonight's game.
Bridges is struggling defensively, but I think that's in part due to the other holes in the defense that he's having to account for, particularly in guard actions. He's being switched out on nearly every play so that the Pacers' ballhandlers can attack their guy, and when he isn't being switched out, the pace of the Pacers' offensive schemes are quick to exploit the Knicks' spacing issues, caused by their defensive deficiencies. The problem with Bridges is that this is all exacerbated when the Knicks are going to him on the offensive end, and he can't convert. But this to me is more of an issue with the overall scheme, when he's out there with lineups where he has to make up for guys' defensive deficiencies, than it is an issue with him as a capable player.
Shamet and Wright once again gave the Knicks some good minutes, flustering the Pacers with their defense. The Knicks actually brought a 10 point lead down to 1 in the second quarter, with those two playing significant minutes.
The Knicks went with the starters this time for the majority of the fourth, and for the most part, the Pacers have had that lineup figured out. They know the mismatches, and they continue to hunt for them. At best, the Knicks were able to match the scoring, climbing back when the Pacers found themselves in a lull period, but a few key foul calls later, and the Pacers were able to rebuild their cushion, and regain control.
Bennedict Mathurin had some productive minutes for the Pacers tonight, doing some of the dirty work, and proving to be effective at drawing whistles late. Obi Toppin had a three pointer on an inbound pass from Haliburton, with 2.7 seconds left on the shot clock that all but iced the game, putting the Pacers up 10 with under 50 seconds to go.
Overall, the Pacers are doing a much better job than the Knicks at finding and exploiting their mismatches, staying on the offensive, being the attackers/aggressors in this series, while the Knicks continue to play off of the back foot, falling back into the trap of trying to win with their guys, who are clearly struggling to solve the Pacers offense, instead of just trying to win. Of course KAT's continuing issues with foul trouble didn't help in this game, nor did Josh's turnovers.
The series heads back to MSG for game 5 this Thursday, where the Knicks will try to stave off elimination, and the Pacers will try to close this series out and move on.