Indiana Pacers 130 – New York Knicks 121 (May 27th, 2025)

(INDIANAPOLIS, IN) – The Indiana Pacers are win one away from their first NBA Finals appearance in 25 years behind Tyrese Haliburton’s NBA playoff historic performance.

1. First Quarter

For the fourteenth consecutive playoff game, the Indiana Pacers starting lineup featured Tyrese Haliburton, Andrew Nembhard, Aaron Nesmith, Pascal Siakam, and Myles Turner. As for New York, Tom Thibodeau ran it back with his game three starting lineup: Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges, OG Anunoby, Karl-Anthony Towns, and Mitchell Robinson. The start of the game felt like game one where neither team could miss. New York was forced to call an early timeout when Haliburton drilled his first three of the night to push Indiana’s lead to 16-9. The Knicks would come back and take a brief lead, but Haliburton led two different 6-0 runs to put his team ahead by seven again. Bennedict Mathurin was successful on a long two point shot to give the Pacers their largest lead of the first quarter at 41-32. After twelve minutes of play, Indiana was on top 43-35. Haliburton led all players with 15 points, 6 assists, and 5 rebounds in the first quarter. Brunson had 13 points for the Knicks. Siakam had a very quiet 11 points in the first quarter. Indiana shot 68.2% from the field and 6/8 from three-point range. New York was also hot from beyond the arc, shooting 5/10.

2. Second Quarter

In game three, Indiana’s starters played really well, but the bench struggled to compete with some of the key players for New York on the floor. Indiana held onto their advantage until Anunoby tied the game at 51 with a layup after stealing an attempted Siakam pass. Rick Carlisle called a timeout to get his four other starters in the game. The game would within a possession for the rest of the half until the Pacers closed out the half with another small 6-0 run with Haliburton being the center of attention. At halftime, Indiana’s advantage was 69-64. Haliburton paced Indiana in scoring with 5 points in the quarter, and 20 points at halftime. He was two rebounds away from recording his second career triple double in the playoffs. Towns exploded for 12 points in the period for New York and Anunoby added 9 points. Brunson led the Knicks in scoring in the first half with 16 points. Other players in double figures in the half were Towns (14 points), Anunoby (13 points), Siakam (13 points), and Nesmith (12 points). Both teams shot over 50% from the field and over 40% from downtown. Indiana had the upper but not by much. The Pacers were 8/16 and the Knicks were 7/17 from range.

3. Third Quarter

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On Sunday night, the Pacers had a spectacular first half, but a very lackluster second half. They would prevent that tonight by having an exceptional third quarter. Indiana scored the first seven points of the second half with Siakam scoring four points and finding Turner wide open for a triple. New York would cut the deficit down to five points, but Indiana did a great job at preventing any sort of run to stay in control anywhere from five points to nine points. With 55.6 seconds left in the quarter, Haliburton splashed a thirty-foot three from the top of the arc to take back a ten-point advantage. The scoring in the third quarter ended with Tony Bradley making one of his two foul shots. Indiana went to the fourth quarter with a 102-91 advantage. Haliburton was great again in the third quarter, scoring 8 points, dishing out 4 assists, and recorded 3 steals. Turner was big with 7 points for the Pacers in the quarter. New York relied on Brunson, scoring 13 of New York’s 27 points. Of Brunson’s 13 points, nine of them came from the foul line. New York scored 13 of its 27 points from the stripe in the quarter. Following his big third quarter, Brunson was now the games leading scorer with 28 points. However, Haliburton was performing better with 28 points, 14 assists, 8 rebounds, and 3 steals after three periods.

4. Fourth Quarter

Two nights ago, the Pacers were in a very similar position heading to the fourth quarter, and we know how that ended. They were playing with a different disposition tonight and started the fourth quarter by pushing the lead to a game high 15 points when Siakam knocked down a three. His triple made it a 111-96 game with 9:53 left, forcing a New York timeout. Indiana’s offense stalled the next five minutes. The Knicks trimmed its deficit to 115-109 during that stretch, but they were also struggling to put the ball through the hoop. Siakam countered with a three, Bridges responded with one for New York, and then Haliburton got to the goal to convert a layup. Indiana would get a stop defensively and be in the driver’s seat. Turner picked up his sixth foul with 1:09 left in the game, resulting in Anunoby going to the line down nine. He made both to cut the Pacers lead to seven points. The game would effectively be over when former Knick, Obi Toppin, splashed a three off an inbound play because they left him wide open. It put Indiana ahead by ten points with 46.3 seconds left. Indiana would go 4/6 at the line the rest of the way to hold onto the win. Indiana is now ahead 3-1 in the series with a 130-121 win over New York. Indiana held fourth quarter to 2 points each on 1/3 shooting in the final quarter. Siakam scored 11 points in the period.

5. Top Performers

Tyrese Haliburton (32p, 15a, 12r, 4s), Pascal Siakam (30p, 5r, 2a, 1s, 1b), Bennedict Mathurin (20p, 2r, 2a), Aaron Nesmith (16p, 3r, 2s), and Myles Turner (13p, 3r, 3b). For New York, Jalen Brunson (31p, 5a, 2r, 2s), Karl-Anthony Towns (24p, 12r, 3a), OG Anunoby (22p, 4r, 3s), Mikal Bridges (17p, 3r, 2a), and Josh Hart (12p, 11r). For tonight’s full box score, click here.

6. Notes

• Indiana is now 11-3 in the playoffs
• Indiana is now 5-2 at home in the playoffs
• Indiana is 31-4 when Tyrese Haliburton scores 20+ points (regular season and playoffs)
• Indiana will have a chance to improve its record to 5-1 in closeout games on Thursday
• Indiana has not lost back-to-back games in 33
• Indiana has not lost back-to-back home games since calendar turned 2025
• Indiana has not lost consecutive home games without a road game between this season
• New York is 6-2 on the road in the playoffs
• NBA teams up 3-1 win 96% of their series
• NBA teams up 3-1 after winning game one and two on the road are 13-0 all time
• Bennedict Mathurin’s 20 points are the most in a game since game three against Cleveland
• Jalen Brunson has scored 20+ points in 14 playoff games during this postseason
• Jalen Brunson has scored 30+ points in 9 playoff games during this postseason
• Josh Hart recorded 10+ rebounds in 8 playoff games during this postseason
  • 3 against Indiana
• Josh Hart recorded his 5th double-double during this postseason
• Karl-Anthony Towns has scored 20+ points in 11 playoff games this postseason
• Karl-Anthony Towns recorded his 11th double-double in the playoffs
• Karl-Anthony Towns set a new playoff high for points in a quarter with 20 in the fourth
• OG Anunoby has scored 20+ points in 7 playoff games this postseason
• Pascal Siakam has scored 30+ points in 2 playoff games this postseason
• Pascal Siakam has scored 20+ points in 7 playoff games this postseason
• Tyrese Haliburton has scored 20+ points in 6 playoff games this postseason
• Tyrese Haliburton has scored 30+ points in 3 playoff games this postseason
• Tyrese Haliburton is the 3rd player in NBA history with 30+ points, 15+ assists, 10+ rebounds
  • Nikola Jokic (twice) and Oscar Robertson
  • Only player to do it without turning the ball over
• Tyrese Haliburton recorded his second career playoff triple-double
  • Holds franchise record for playoff triple-doubles
  • Haliburton’s 3rd career triple-double
• Tyrese Haliburton recorded his 8th double-double this postseason
  • Indiana is 7-1 in those games
• Tyrese Haliburton’s 12 rebounds are the most in any game of his career
• Tyrese Haliburton’s 4 steals tie a playoff career high for steals in a game

7. Next Up

The series will shift back to New York after the day off tomorrow. Indiana will attempt to close out New York on Thursday night at 8pm. Pat Boylan, Mark Boyle, and Eddie Gill will have all the coverage starting at 7:30pm on 93.5/107.5 The Fan.