Knicks fall behind 0-2 in Eastern Conference finals series vs. Pacers
The New York Knicks have fallen to a place that no unit in NBA history has ever overcome After a historic collapse in Contest of the Eastern Conference Finals to the Indiana Pacers the Knicks let Competition slip through their fingers in a - loss No NBA unit has ever lost the first two games at home and come back to win a series in the conference finals CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS COMPascal Siakam scored a playoff career-high points and the Pacers beat the New York Knicks - on Friday night for a - lead in the Eastern Conference finals We have a long way to go and it s only going to get tougher for us Siakam declared Myles Turner added points and Tyrese Haliburton had points assists and eight rebounds for the Pacers who lost to the Lakers in in their only NBA Finals appearance Siakam finished for from the field on a night nobody else on the high-scoring Pacers had more than five baskets Special meeting Pacers coach Rick Carlisle noted In the first half he was the guy that got us going and got us through a few intricate stretches Jalen Brunson had points and assists for the Knicks who need a quick turnaround or their first appearance in the conference finals in years will be a brief one They defended much better after their crushing collapse in a - overtime loss in Meeting but couldn t find enough scoring to come back after a bad start to the fourth quarter THUNDER'S SHAI GILGEOUS-ALEXANDER WINS FIRST CAREER NBA MVP AWARDMikal Bridges and Karl-Anthony Towns each had points and seven rebounds for the Knicks but Towns played just minutes as coach Tom Thibodeau went longer with backup Mitchell Robinson a much better defender who grabbed nine rebounds Going into the fourth quarter it s a tie ballgame We ve just got to make better plays more winning plays Thibodeau noted It was tied at after three before the Pacers opened the fourth with a - run to move ahead - on Siakam s -pointer with remaining They would expeditiously push the margin back to around there every time the Knicks got any momentum and it was - after another basket by Siakam with to play The Knicks scored nine straight to make it - on Josh Hart s basket with seconds to go Aaron Nesmith made two free throws for the Pacers Brunson was well off on a -point attempt and Turner finished it out with two free throws The th playoff meeting between the rivals the Pacers lead - all since more closely resembled their defensive battles of the s than the shootout of two nights earlier Indiana raced to a - lead but the Knicks expeditiously caught them when Robinson and Deuce McBride entered and the contest remained within a single-digit margin nearly the entire rest of the night The Associated Press contributed to this assessment Follow Fox News Digital s sports coverage on X and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter
