Closing It Out

Let's take a look at what Indiana might do to extend this series, and how New York can be ready for it.

Good morning, and congrats to the Rangers on making the Eastern Conference Finals! Will the Knicks join them tonight? Today we discuss how they can make sure they do.

Game Night

TONIGHT: Knicks at Pacers, 8:30 pm, ESPN

Halftime: We’re back! Here’s the link.

Injury Report: Still no OG Anunoby for the Knicks. Everyone else is a go for both teams.

What to watch for: A win, maybe? If the Knicks can do that, they’ll be off until Tuesday night by virtue of Minnesota’s win over the Nuggets last night.

I’ll have much more on potential adjustments below, but something I’ll be monitoring is the playing time for Pascal Siakam. In 159 minutes with Siakam on the floor in this series, Indy is outscoring New York by eight points per 100 possessions. In 81 minutes without him, they’re getting outscored by 19.7 points per 100.

Pascal isn’t averse to playing a lot - he’s led the league in minutes per game twice - but he’s yet to play more than 36:40 in any game in this series. His playoff high this year came in Game 3 vs the Bucks, when he played 41:40. I’d be surprised if he didn’t top that tonight.

Projecting Game 6

We start today with a question from Steve on 1st:

If you were the Pacers, what are some adjustments you’d make to counter the Knicks’ Game 5 adjustments? And then how can the Knicks react to those counters?

Before I answer, a reminder that momentum is basically nonexistent at this point in a series. For proof of that, look no further than the Denver Minnesota result last night. Indiana played poorly on Tuesday night and they know it. Worse yet, they played soft. More than any adjustment, those two things will have to change if they want to have a chance.

As for Steve’s question, the first thing I’d do is periodically send hard doubles at Brunson…not every possession, but every 2-3 possessions, in an effort to keep him off kilter. Jalen has gotten better at passing out of doubles by leaps and bounds since the end of last season, but he’s still prone to the occasional poor or lazy pass.