Halftime Rewind: Pacers 73, Knicks 63 (Game 2)

Wednesday, May 8 at 8:00 PM ET at Madison Square Garden

The Indiana Pacers have put themselves in position to steal Game 2 of their Eastern Conference Semifinals with the New York Knicks, but they will need a strong second half on the road to seal the deal.

Thanks to a solid second-quarter performance, the Pacers lead the Knicks 73-63 at Madison Square Garden. 

After scoring just six total points in Game 1, Pacers All-Star point guard Tyrese Haliburton already has 22 points on 7-for-12 (5-for-8 from 3-point range) shooting at intermission for the visitors.

Following Haliburton, Obi Toppin has 13 points off the bench for the Blue & Gold, Pascal Siakam has 10 points, and rookie Ben Sheppard has eight points. Pacers backup point guard T.J. McConnell also has nine assists at the break.

New York, already missing some key players due to injuries, lost a major part of its roster early in the game. Knicks superstar guard Jalen Brunson exited the game with around 3:32 left in the first quarter with a foot injury and didn’t return. His status for the second half is questionable.

OG Anunoby leads New York with 22 points (8-for-15 shooting) and Josh Hart has 10 points for the Knicks.

New York is outshooting Indiana 58.1 to 57.1 percent thus far, but the Pacers have made 10 3-pointers to the Knicks’ six treys. 

After tying at 36 at the end of the first quarter, the Pacers shot 68.2 percent in the second quarter to outscore the Knicks 37-27.

Haliburton immediately made his presence felt on the offensive end, scoring 13 points on 4-for-8 shooting in the first quarter. Anunoby led the Knicks with 12 points in the opening frame.

New York made 10 of 14 shots to start the game to build an 11-point lead, but Indiana answered with an 11-0 run to tie the game and that’s where the score remained at the end of the first quarter.

The teams kept it close in the opening minutes until a 9-0 New York scoring streak, where Anunoby recorded seven points, put the Knicks in front 19-10 with 5:49 left in the first quarter.

A Haliburton 3-pointer momentarily stopped the bleeding, but Donte DiVincenzo and Brunson then drained back-to-back shots from deep to make it 24-13 and force a Blue & Gold timeout with 4:01 on the clock.

Out of the break, the Pacers went on an 11-0 spree in less than a minute after Toppin scored five points, Aaron Nesmith hit a 3-pointer, McConnell converted a layup, and Haliburton made a free throw to tie the game at 24 with 2:52 left in the first frame.

While the Pacers and Knicks essentially traded baskets for the rest of the first quarter, Toppin was fouled on a 3-point attempt with less than a second left and made all of his freebies to knot the game at 36-36.

Indiana’s bench came out on fire in the second quarter, going 5-for-7 from the field – with Toppin and Sheppard each hitting 3-pointers and Isaiah Jackson converting an and-one – to give the Pacers a 49-43 lead with eight minutes left in the first half.

The Knicks narrowed the score to two midway through the period, but the Pacers answered with a 10-2 run. Haliburton drilled two more 3-pointers to put the visitors ahead 64-54 with 3:03 on the clock, prompting a Knicks timeout.

Haliburton’s fifth 3-pointer of the night, two buckets from Andrew Nembhard, and a layup by Myles Turner in the final 2:27 helped the Pacers go up by 10 at the break. 

Indiana is leading the rebounding margin 21-18 and both teams have 32 points in the paint thus far. The Pacers second unit has outscored the Knicks bench 28-10.

TV: TNT – Brian Anderson (play-by-play), Reggie Miller (analyst), Stan Van Gundy (analyst), Chris Haynes (sideline reporter)

Radio: 93.5/107.5 The Fan – Mark Boyle (play-by-play), Eddie Gill (analyst), Pat Boylan (sideline reporter/host)

The Pacers will host the Knicks for Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals at Gainbridge Fieldhouse at 7:00 PM on Friday, May 10. Find Tickets >>