New York Knicks 106 – Indiana Pacers 100 (May 25th, 2025) Game Recap

(INDIANAPOLIS, IN) – The New York Knicks stimy the Indiana Pacers in the second half to record their third 20-point comeback win in the playoffs. Indiana now leads 2-1 in the series.

1. First Quarter

For the thirteenth 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 changed his starting lineup for the first time this season. The Knicks started Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges, OG Anunoby, Karl-Anthony Towns, and Mitchell Robinson. The lineup change paid dividends early for the Knicks, as they controlled the first seven minutes of the game. Indiana was down 15-10 with 5:03 left in the quarter, and then went on a 6-0 run to take the lead following a Ben Sheppard three. The offense late for Indiana featured a lot of T.J. McConnell because they had no answers. He was tied with Nembhard for the team lead in points with six. After twelve minutes, Indiana was on top 30-26. New York was, shockingly, paced by Brunson with 11 points. Robinson recorded 6 points and 4 rebounds in nearly 11 minutes in his first start. The Pacers held the Knicks to 34.8% shooting from the field and 2/9 from three-point range.

2. Second Quarter

After taking some time to crack the defensive gameplan from the Knicks to start the game, the Pacers really turned up their intensity to start the second quarter. With 10:22 left in the half, Indiana’s lead was 32-30, and then they started pulling away. Two free throws from Mathurin pushed the advantage to 42-32 with 7:52 remaining in the half. Indiana’s advantage doubled in the next four minutes with Haliburton being the centerpiece of it. He hit a three, came up with a steal, and then took the basketball the other way and slammed it. It was a 25-3 run for Indiana that had Gainbridge Fieldhouse rocking. New York was in unchartered waters with both Brunson and Towns with three fouls. They had to turn to Anunoby, Hart, and Bridges to lead the offense, and they were successful. New York closed the half on a 10-3 run to trim Indiana’s advantage to 58-45 at the break. Anunoby led all players in scoring with 7 points in the period. Indiana was led by Nesmith and Haliburton with 5 points each. Leading all players at intermission was Brunson with 11 points. Indiana was surprisingly led by McConnell with 10 points in the half. Haliburton had a solid half with 9 points, 4 assists, 3 rebounds, and 2 steals. Neither team shot it well from three-point range in the half. Indiana was 3/13 (23.1%) and New York was 5/19 (26.3%).

3. Third Quarter

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With how the first half closed, Indiana needed to respond to start the second half. Nesmith extended the Pacers lead back to 16 points when he connected on a three-pointer with 8:02 left in the third quarter. New York was just kind of hanging around for a while. Indiana was not able to push the lead any further but didn’t let New York get back into the game. Both offenses were struggling for the most part in the third quarter. A Miles McBride three cut the Knicks deficit to eight points, but the Pacers still possessed an 80-70 advantage going into the fourth quarter after a Turner dunk with six seconds left in the period. McBride led all players in scoring with 7 points in the quarter. Anunoby, Brunson, Bridges, and Turner all scored 6 points each in the quarter. Indiana, once again, struggled shooting from beyond the arc, going 1/4 in the quarter. New York was 3/7 in the quarter, allowing them to outscore the Pacers by three points in the quarter. Brunson was leading all players in scoring with 17 points after three quarters. Indiana was led by Turner with 15 points. Through three quarters, Indiana was shooting 4/17 (23.5%) from three-point range and 25/41 (61%) on two-point shots.

4. Fourth Quarter

In games one and two, KAT was very effective as a scorer for New York. He was held to 4 points largely because he was only on the floor for 21:35 dealing with foul trouble. He made his presence felt in a big way in the final quarter. He scored 14 points in less than four minutes and had the Knicks ahead for the first time since the first quarter with a dunk. The game started to feel like it was getting away from the Pacers when he drilled a thirty-one-foot triple with 5:10 left in the game to push the New York lead to four points. Indiana would come back and ties the game with two free throws from Siakam with 1:37 remaining. After sitting for the last six minutes with five fouls, Brunson was subbed back into the game and put the Knicks ahead with a difficult jumper. Nesmith missed a field goal and then Josh Hart sunk two free throws with 19.6 seconds left, making it a 102-98 game. New York made all of its free throws down the stretch, preventing any miraculous comebacks for Indiana this season. The Knicks steal game three from the Pacers with a 106-100 win.

5. Top Performers

Karl-Anthony Towns (24p, 15r), Jalen Brunson (23p), OG Anunoby (16p, 2r, 2a, 3b, 1s), and Mikal Bridges (15p). For Indiana, Tyrese Haliburton (20p, 7a, 4r, 3s), Myles Turner (19p, 4r, 3a, 2b, 1s), Pascal Siakam (17p, 4r, 2a), and T.J. McConnell (12p, 3r, 3a). For tonight’s full box score, click here.

6. Notes

• Indiana is now 10-3 in the playoffs
  • All 3 losses have been game three
  • All 3 losses have been games where Indiana has scored under 110 points
• Indiana’s 100 points are the fewest in a game since February 4^th (89 vs Portland)
• Indiana is now 4-2 at home in the playoffs
• Indiana’s 21 assists are the fewest in a playoff game this postseason
  • Indiana only recorded 8 assists in the second half
• Indiana scored 55 points in the first 20:40 and were held to 45 points in the final 27:20
• Indiana is 1-3 when Andrew Nembhard scores 10 or fewer points in the playoffs
• Indiana snaps a 7-game winning streak when Tyrese Haliburton scores 20+ points
  • Indiana now 30-4 when Haliburton scores 20+ points (regular season and playoffs)
• Indiana’s 42 points in the second half are the 2nd fewest in a half during the playoff run
• Indiana is now 0-4 on the same day as the Indianapolis 500
• Indiana only outscored New York’s bench 27-22
• When the road team wins the first two games of the series and loses the third game, they have advanced 11 of the 15 times
• New York has now won 3 games this postseason when trailing by 20+ points, most since 1998
• Bennedict Mathurin minutes per game by series:
  • Milwaukee – 18.0
  • Cleveland – 16.4
  • New York – 13.3
• Bennedict Mathurin’s 8 minutes are the fewest in any game this season that he wasn’t ejected in
• Josh Hart has recorded 10+ rebounds in 7 playoff games during the postseason
  • 2 against Indiana
• Karl-Anthony Towns has scored 20+ points in 10 playoff games this postseason
• Karl-Anthony Towns recorded his 10th double-double in the playoffs
• Karl-Anthony Towns set a new playoff high for points in a quarter with 20 in the fourth
• Myles Turner had the best +/- for the Pacers with a +17
• Myles Turner’s 13 points in the fourth quarter tied the most in a quarter in a playoff game in his career
• Obi Toppin had the best +/- on the team with a +19
• Pascal Siakam had the worst +/- on the team with a -21
• Tyrese Haliburton has scored 20+ points in 5 playoff games this postseason
• Tyrese Haliburton only recorded 2 assists in the second half in 19:20

7. Next Up

After one day off to learn from the loss, the Indiana Pacers will attempt to take a 3-1 series lead on Tuesday night at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Pat Boylan will get things started at 7:30pm with the pregame show, followed by the play-by-play coverage at 8pm with Mark Boyle and Eddie Gill on 93.5/107.5 The Fan.