Instead of complaining about the officiating like their opponent, the New York Knicks focused more on competing and now they head to Indiana with a 2-0 lead in their best of 7 series. Offensive rebounding was the difference maker in Game 2, despite what the raw box score numbers say. The Knicks got key 2nd chances on offense late in the game which helped seal the deal, with a total of 3 scoring at least 28 points. Jalen Brunson had an injury scare early in the game, but came back and was the leading scorer once again. If the Knicks can get a split in the next 2 road games they’ll be in a really good position to advance to the conference finals. During the regular season they lost in their only visit to Indiana 140-126 back in late December.
The Pacers submitted a report to the league which includes 78 “referee mistakes” over the first 2 games of this series. However, they only have themselves to blame after giving up 121 and 130 points in back-to-back games at MSG. Playing little to no defense in the postseason won’t get you far, this team is learning it the hard way. Tyrese Haliburton finally had a productive game, but it didn’t make much of a difference as his counterpart on the other side Donte DiVincenzo scored 28 points. Game 3 is a do or die situation for Indy, they’ll have to sharpen up their gameplan in order to stay alive in this series. Getting timely stops will be the key, I really doubt this team can play defense regularly for a full 48 minutes. All is not lost yet, the Pacers are 29-15 SU this year in home games after winning all 3 of them in the 1st Round vs Milwaukee.
