‘Finished throwing up’: Knicks roasted over ‘massacre’; epic half-court shot as Nuggets explode
Tyrese Haliburton scored 20 factors and the Indiana Pacers dismantled the New York Knicks 121-89 on Sunday to stage their NBA Eastern Conference semi-final collection at two video games apiece.
After the primary three video games of the best-of-seven collection got here right down to the ultimate minutes, Haliburton and the Pacers lastly obtained their high-octane offence firing and long-established a blowout, a raft of accidents finally catching up with the Knicks.
And the misfiring Knicks have been totally roasted for his or her poor performances. The NY Post wrote: “Tom Thibodeau’s squad was a disaster in the opening quarter, a lethargic, misfiring mess before rolling over in a Mother’s Day Massacre administered by the Pacers, 121-89, who evened the East semis series at 2-2.”
ABC pundit Stephen A. Smith was requested at halftime what he would do if he was Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau. He replied: “Well, the first thing I’d do is I’d get out of the bathroom because I just finished throwing up after watching my team play the way that they played in the first half. It was absolutely, positively awful.”
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The Pacers related on 56.8% of their pictures, drilling 14 three-pointers and dominating within the paint.
T.J. McConnell scored 15 factors off the bench for Indiana, who had six gamers rating in double figures.
After a dunk by Knicks centre Isaiah Hartenstein to open the sport, the primary quarter was all Pacers, Indiana pushing their result in as many as 23 factors.
Knicks talisman Jalen Brunson was 0-for-5 within the opening quarter and the Pacers bench outscored the Knicks reserves 17-0 within the interval.
The domination continued within the second quarter, Haliburton sending the group right into a frenzy with a three-pointer over Donte DiVincenzo that put the Pacers up by 30 with 5.9 seconds left within the first half.
They would lead by as many as 43 earlier than it was over, however regardless of the rapturous ovation from followers at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, Haliburton stated the Pacers should stay centered on the duty forward.
“We did our job,” Haliburton stated. “They did their job and won two at home, we did our job and won two at home. Game five is higher stakes.”
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The banged-up Knicks have been once more with out OG Anunoby, who injured a hamstring in sport two to hitch key contributors Julius Randle, Mitchell Robinson and Bojan Bogdanovic on the sidelines.
The pressure was telling on Brunson, who’s taking part in by way of a proper foot damage. Brunson related on six of 17 makes an attempt to attain 18 factors with three rebounds and 5 assists earlier than trying out with two and a half minutes left within the third quarter.
Coach Tom Thibodeau stated: “He says he’s fine … He’ll keep going.”
Donte DiVincenzo additionally set an undesirable piece of historical past for the Knicks – his plus-minus of detrimental 40 in his 32 minutes was a brand new Knicks playoff file.
With the competition out of hand and sport 5 developing at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday, each coaches pulled their starters for the fourth quarter.
“Now we’ve got to go there and get a win in the Garden,” Haliburton stated. “We expect them to throw a big punch going into game five, but we’re capable of doing that at the same time.”
NUGGETS LEVEL SERIES AFTER EPIC HALF-TIME STUNNER
The defending champion Denver Nuggets outgunned the Minnesota Timberwolves 115-107 to stage their NBA playoff collection on Sunday because the Indiana Pacers pulled even with the New York Knicks.
The Nuggets, fueled by 35 factors from NBA Most Valuable Player Nikola Jokic, Aaron Gordon’s 27 factors on ruthlessly environment friendly 11-of-12 capturing and 19 factors from Jamal Murray, claimed a second straight win in Minneapolis to knot their best-of-seven Western Conference semi-final collection at two video games apiece.
“Now it’s best of three,” Jokic stated, including that the Timberwolves’ beautiful victories in video games one and two in Denver had solely strengthened the defending champions.
“We took a hit and we bounced back and hopefully we can defend the home court now,” stated Jokic, wanting ahead to sport 5 in Denver on Tuesday.
The Nuggets withstood a 44-point efficiency from Anthony Edwards, however the Timberwolves star simply didn’t have sufficient scoring help regardless of an lively effort from the hosts.
Karl-Anthony Towns completed with 13 factors however was 0-for-7 within the first quarter, when the Nuggets closed the interval on a 14-2 run to grab a five-point lead.
Edwards’ dunk with lower than a minute left within the first half minimize what had been a 16-point deficit to seven.
Jokic then got here up with a steal and fed Michael Porter Jr. for a dunk and Murray grabbed a steal, turned and unleashed a buzzer-beating shot from past the halfcourt line that swished by way of and despatched the Nuggets into the break with a 64-49 lead.
Murray scored 12 factors within the third quarter to maintain the Nuggets in management as early foul bother despatched Jokic to the bench.
Jokic returned to attain 16 within the fourth and the Nuggets saved the Timberwolves at bay.
