Minnesota Timberwolves or New York Knicks: Who is more likely to make a comeback ⁉️👀 | SportsCenter

Minnesota Timberwolves or New York Knicks: Who is more likely to make a comeback ⁉️👀 | SportsCenter

Good morning. Happy Saturday. Amina Smith and Phil Murphy here with Sports Center. Well, Ronald Luna Jr. had the best possible reintroduction to the Braves. And it’s the biggest weekend of the year in motorsport. But Amina, we start with a pair of conference finals game twos. Yeah, that we do. And while I was getting some beauty rest for a 3:00 a.m. wake up, things got ugly for the Knicks inside of Madison Square Garden. Spicy P the one to blame for that. Game two, Knicks taking on the Pacers. And I mentioned Pascal Seakum. See him right here inside for the slam. Take another look at that feed from Hallebertton to Seyakum. Pacers with the early lead. Next Pacers possession. Hallebertton to Seakum. Again drains the three. Seakum scored the first 11 points for the Pacers. The longest streak to start a playoff game by a Pacers player in the last 25 years. Third quarter. Hi drains a step back. Three over call. Anthony Towns. Pacers by five and the Knicks still in striking distance. Just over four minutes left in the third. Jaylen Brunson open look hits the three and we tie it up at 70. Later in the third, Hallebertton turns it over. Brunson saves it from going out of bounds. Josh Hart comes up with it on the other end with the layup. Take another look at Brunson just going right into the broadcast table right there. Watch out guys. That’s always like my biggest fear anytime I’m on the sideline. Fourth quarter. Seakum gets an open look. The three is good. Pacers with a nine-point lead. Under four to play. Hallebertton drills it over Jaylen Brunson. 14 points, 11 assists, and eight rebounds for Tyres Hallebertton in this one. Just under three minutes left in regulation. Brunson misses a three. Hallebertton finds Seyakum in transition. This is where the Pacers thrive. Seakum finishing. He finished with a game high of 39 points. Pacers lead by 10 under two to play. Brunson drills it from beyond the arc. Knicks now down by five. Just over a minute left in the fourth. Jaylen Brunson again says, “I will try to put the team on my back.” 36 points and 11 assists. Under 20 seconds left. Brunson with the feed to Josh Hart inside. Lays it in. Knicks take a quick two to pull within one. So after two Pacers free throws, Knicks trailing by three. Brunson pulls up for a quick three. No good, misses. Pacers get the rebound. Miles Turner, his reaction absolutely priceless. Pacers hold on to win 114 to 109. Here’s Hallebertton on his supporting cast. Yeah, I was trying to be aggressive, trying to make the right play. I stunk it up, but uh we had so many different guys contribute. Uh like I said, a total team effort. really proud of this group and uh yeah, this is it’s a big deal. It’s take two here, you know, now we got to do our job, protect home court. I told you about that with the word history. I’m not here to repeat it. We’re here to make it. So, if I’ve learned anything, especially last year, as quick as you win two games is as quick as you can lose two games. So, um you know, just bank on my experience and um you know, just we just got to execute at a higher level. For me, uh my I guess what I want to say to them is obviously we got to continue to fight. So, it’s going to take one day at a time, one game at a time. Uh, we can’t look ahead. We can’t think about anything other than just game three at this point. And so, um, that’s just my mindset going forward. I mean, it’s kind of the mindset that you have to have. Um, they’re going to need to make some history. The Knicks have never won a best of seven series when falling behind O2. They are 0 for 14. In NBA postseason history, no team has ever lost the first two games of the conference finals at home and then come back to win the series. 13-year NBA veteran Quinton Richardson andcape senior writer David Dennis Jr. with us now as the Pacers take a 20 series lead in the Eastern Conference Finals. Q, I want to start with you, Jaylen Brunson. Fine game, 36 points, 11 assists. We got to address that decision for for a pullup three from the logo. 10 seconds left. What are your thoughts on that shot choice? Well, I felt like I felt like Jaylen Jaylen Brussen didn’t do a whole lot of wrong last night, but I didn’t like that shot. I understand I can see where he was coming from trying to get it because they were doubling him, jumping him, doing so many different things, gadget plays to try and take the ball out of his hand. He felt like I feel like he felt that was like a a chance to get his best shot before before getting doubled or jumped or anything. But I just felt like that he could have got a better shot. He could have been close. That was a that was a pretty deep shot that he doesn’t really shoot those type of distance threes, but I feel like he could have even if it wasn’t for him, they could have got a better shot out of that play and it was kind of rushed and that put them behind the eight ball when he missed that one. Yeah, I can see the logic behind the shot there. Like I think he was expecting them to foul uh so they wouldn’t get a chance to shoot at three. So I think that’s what he was thinking there. But beyond that, this speaks to a larger issue with the Knicks and their late game execution. They just could not. We know what happened in game one where they fell apart. But in game two, they just couldn’t get the rebound when they needed. They couldn’t get the stop when they needed. They couldn’t get the shot to go in when they needed. This team’s calling card in the first two rounds was clutch performance. And right now, the pace of being a better team in the clutch, executing down the stretch better, and all that culminates in Jaylen Brunson feeling like he needs to take a logo shot to have a chance to tie this game. Let’s go to the other side of this match up. The Pacers, they’re great in transition. and they’re able to move the ball well out there on the floor. David, what impressed you with the Pacers offense last night? Pascal Seakum, we got to start with him. The Pacers came out kind of lethargic at the beginning of this game and he really set the the table for them to get them kind of poised a little bit, especially in that first half. 21 points in that first half. Let’s not forget that Pascal Seakum was the second best player on a championship team a few years ago with the Toronto Raptors. But this again speaks to another overall issue is that the Indiana Pacers have an answer for everything that the Knicks are doing on defense. When Mitchell Robinson is flying down the court, they’re putting Miles Turner in the corner and getting him out the paint. They’re ISO and Jaylen Brunson. And then when Cat is in the game, he is an absolute lunchable minus 37 net rating. His defense has been atrocious in this series. And the Pacers are feasting on everything that the Knicks are doing wrong. Hey, I I’m doubling down. I agree with you on the Pascal set the tone from the beginning. But I mean I think what we’ve been seeing throughout this playoffs and also throughout the season double D is that the Pacers are that team. Obviously every team you have your guys when you look at this the the the the uh everything that they’ve done. They have a leading score. They have a leading rebounder. But they truly play a style of basketball where you don’t know who it’s going to be. Coach Carlile doesn’t coach in a way where you need he’s specifying this guy’s going to score. Whoever comes out that night and whoever is playing well, that’s what makes them difficult. They ride the hot hand. They go to what’s working. We’ve seen them broad plays for N Smith, Nimhar, TJ McConnell. I mean, obviously, they wrote drown up plays for for Muel uh Miles Turner and Tyrese and the go-to guys and Pascal, but they you you really don’t know. They play as the game goes. They play with what’s working. They they they make the right plays. And they have a extension of the coach. You heard Tyrese Holly talk about how he continues to check in with the coach to see what they’re seeing so he could be the extension of them on the court. All of those things add up to them playing well down the down the stretch and being poised when it mattered down last night. Both of you guys know I’m pulling for my next series. I’m on an emotional roller coaster right now. But David, I’ll start with you. Yeah, exactly. That’s exactly the roller coaster. The teams are not out right now. Huh. The are not out. They are not out right now. But David, can the Knicks pull out this series? Look, I thought this series was going seven at the beginning. You I just don’t think they can recover from losing those two games at home, especially the way they lost game one. I mean, I’m sorry. I know you got the Pacers yellow on right now. You already turned your back. Wait, not the Pacers yellow. You have to call it a Pacers yellow, too. Just added insult to injury. I mean, come on now. I thought we were friends. You know what? I’ll hear from you guys later on in the show. Game three tomorrow night, 8 Eastern in Indie. Thanks so much, guys. How do the Knicks respond? We are tied at 81 at the end of three in game two. We just kept feeding him. Thought he just kept making big play after big play and that’s why we brought him here. Hallebertton three. The New York Knicks. Three-point game. It’s a three to tie. No. Indiana has gone up two games to none over the Knicks. And the Pacers, they thrive under pressure. That is now six straight road playoff wins, 7-0 in clutch time games this postseason. That means games within five points with 5 minutes to go. The first team to do that since LeBron and the Heat back in 2011. In fact, no team has won eight consecutive clutchtime playoff games since the 1999 champion Spurs. Couple of those, by the way, were against the Knicks in the finals. We have a guy who played for the Knicks and an NBA champion, Iman Shumpert, co-host of Hoop Streams on the ESPN app, joining us uh from Minneapolis this morning. So, let’s talk about this game first, Iman, as the Pacers go up to love. You know, they’re so deep, right? They run about 10 deep and with Tyrese Hallebert not having his best game, it was really Pascal Seakum from the start. He finishes with 39 points. What impressed you about his performance in game two? Uh his ability to hit tough twos. I think that we don’t appreciate it enough. He did it when he was over there in Toronto. Uh he becomes a problem for you. He posts up. He gets people in foul trouble or he shows that threat to where people don’t play as good a defense and he gets people in trouble. Uh he’s very disruptive and every time you need a big bucket, he hits it done with a tough two that can calm your team down. But the great thing about this team is that the the bench comes in and does their thing. But having Miles Turner on that team really really helped them out. He did not have a great game starting off. He didn’t go away from anything. He didn’t get frustrated. He stayed around. He kept playing. He kept rebounding. He kept talking. Later on in that fourth quarter, he comes up big for them and doesn’t get talked about enough. He’s one of those guys that’s been playing on Indiana for a while. He gives them confidence. He gives them energy. and you see how they roll with them. At the end of games though, Indiana’s just putting together a better ball game as far as making winning plays. I think that the Knicks on the other hand have Jaylen Brunson fighting alone sometime. Yeah, I mean Turner has 13 points in the first. Rick Carile, listen, this guy knows how to coach. Um he’s one of the winningest coaches in the NBA right now. Making the perfect substitutions, calling the timeouts at the right time. But let’s go to Tibs on the other side because this is a tough dilemma. You have Carl Anthony Towns, right? and he is not doing what he needs to do defensively at times. So, he only plays five minutes in the fourth quarter. So, you’ve got this incredible center on offense, this guy when you need points, but yet he’s sitting. So, what do you think that Tibs needs to do in terms of that rotation, Mitchell Robinson and Cat going forward in game three? Well, I definitely think that you bring a guy in like Carl Anthony Towns, you didn’t bring him in to have him sitting down at the end of a game. I think, do you need to inspire him? Do you need to challenge him to where he knows he needs to wear more the chip on his shoulder to be a part of the game, especially defensively, but his force and his ability on offense, uh, his ability to play within a pick and roll and cause the team to stretch out and have to stay honest. He has to be in there as a threat. That will help Jaylen Brunson a little bit as far as just getting cleaner looks, but getting looks where he is not working so hard and exerting so much energy to where at the end of the game it seems like shots are short. Yeah, just those blown coverages on defense. I mean, those among other things have to be cleaned up by the Knicks. Um, Cat was minus 20 by the way in those 28 minutes last night. Uh, let’s talk about where you are. All right, so the Wolves are going back home. They are down 2. uh uh not nearly as close a series as the one that we’re talking about uh between um New York and Indianapolis and Minnesota shooting only 28% from the field. Listen, they’re facing the best defense in the NBA. How do they get back on track? I think getting back on track, they have to look in their locker room and turn to Mike Connley. I think Mike Connley is a guy that has been around this league. He has been a true professional. He has seen a ton of these situations. He’s been down 2. He’s been up 2. He has to corral them and make them understand that they can still do this. They can still get things done. OKC did nothing more than win at home. And that’s what that has to be their mindset. I think that has to be contagious. He has to make them feel confident that they can come in here, defend home floor, and that they can push into a game five. Yeah, they’re only shooting 29% from 32. It’s just that that OKC defense is way up here, right above any other team in the NBA and they’re showing it. Listen, I can’t wait to hear more of you co-hosting Coupe Streams. That’s tonight at 8 ahead of game three. You can find it on YouTube. You can find it on Facebook and the app. So, there’s really no excuse not to listen. Iman, welcome back to Sports Center. Hannah Storm, Jay Harris, and game three of the Western Conference Finals in Minnesota tonight. Thunder and Wolves 8:30 Eastern on ABC. NBA reporter Brian Winhurst joining us now. Brian, the Wolves find themselves down 02. What’s the biggest problem they’re going to have to solve if they’re going to find themselves back in this series somehow? Jay, they’ve just got to start making some shots. And I know that that sounds like a simple antidote because uh the Thunder’s defense is so swarming, but none of their guys are getting it done. you know, their their bench scorers, uh, Nazar Reed and Dante Devincenzo, who are so important to their offense. They’re seven of 33 in the first two games. Um, Julius Randall was awesome in the first half of game one, the last three halves, he’s five of 19. And Aunt Edwards, who’s one of the most devastatingly effective three-point shooters in the league, is four of 19 on threes. Now, some of these shots are contested. Of course, the Thunder do it, but some of these shots are wide open. and whatever issues that the Wolves are dealing with, I promise you if they hit a couple of threes, things will start to look different. We know OKC is great and has been great on defense, but what did they unlock on offense in game two that they’ll look to keep going in game three? Yeah, their half court offense has been a little suspect at times in the postseason, Jay. And the Timberwolves went to interesting strategy in game two. They threw a lot of zone at them. Now, the Nuggets threw zone at the uh at the Thunder in the last round, and they had some success, but Shay Gildus Alexander and the Thunder just sort of figured it out. They went 14 of 26 shooting. That’s 54% against the zone defense in game two, and Sheay was basically the guy who broke it. He made 11 different contested jumpers, getting into the mid-range. The Thunder have dominated the Western Conference Finals, winning both games by double digits. OKC now has 60 double-digit wins this season, tying the 2016 2017 Warriors for the most in a season in NBA history. OKC has been led by league MVP Shay Gilas Alexander, who has 69 points in the conference finals. That is the most points through a player’s first two career conference finals games since Carmemelllo Anthony back in ’09. Looking ahead, the Thunder are 13-0 when leading two nothing in a best of seven. While Minnesota is 0 and3 all time when trailing two nothing in a best of seven, including the 2024 West finals against the Mavericks. Quinton Richardson and Anscape senior writer David Dennis Jr. back here with us and we’re going full Dennis the Menace here. So David, who’s a player that could be a menace in today’s game when you’re talking about the Thunder and the Wolves? It’s Jaylen Williams. Let’s take a trip back a few games ago, game six against Denver, he did not show up and everybody was talking about what’s his viability as a real number two option. Since then, in the three games, 238 and six since in this series, he has six steals and he has yet to turn the ball over. If you’re talking about the battle of the twos between him and Julius Randle, it is not even close. The Wolves have no answer for what he’s doing offensively or defensively. He’s if he’s going to continue to be a menace, this series is going to be real short. I agree with that right there too, Chains. I double down. I like Jaylen Williams. He’s definitely going to be part of it. But if we talking about a minutes, the biggest minutes for the for the Minnesota Timberwolves is undoubtedly the league MVP, SGA, OKC, they go as he goes. And we know that he’s a walking 30 to 40 point bucket almost every night. And he’s been that. And I think he’s going to continue to be that. He’s the one who who gets the he he’s the engine that gets the train going. He always finds a way and he stays forward. That’s what I like about him the most. Even when he’s having a tough game, you don’t see him showing the frustration on his face. He just continues to go about his business and always finds a way to show up and show out for his team. So, I got SGA as the biggest menace. Q need your help on this one, man. We’re scanning the NBA. We We think we found a QR code. Minnesota’s got to win four of five if they’re going to win the series. What’s the code by which the T-wolves need to live to make this a series? I mean, just like I said about OKC, we know Ant-Man is he he has to be ever present. If he doesn’t show up and be a lead guy, they have no chance. But for me, it’s all about the Randles, the McDaniels, the Rudy Rudy Go Bears, and the and the um the Al the Alexander Gil and and and Mike Connie. They have to come up and be big for him. They have to support him and make it where they can’t just double team and key in on Ant Edwards. They have to be formidable in their own way so that they can continue to keep their man attached and they can play and they give Ant-Man a chance to do his thing oneon-one when he gets his ISO cuz right now with them not doing what they doing, they’re able to key in on Ant-Man more. Q, I’m I’m with you. You said folks need to show up big. You know who also need to show up big? The bigs. They need to show up big. the the Minnesota Timberwolves got to figure out what to do with this Nas Reed, Julius Randle, Rudy Gobear situation. They have not shown. It’s one thing to play against a Lakers and Warriors teams that do not have centers, but when you have the Thunder who areounding these guys, they have given them nothing. Especially in game two when Julius Randle basically was a no-show, didn’t play in that fourth quarter. Now, if I’m Minnesota, I can look in my fourth quarter in game two and say, “Hey, we cut that lead down to 10 with Nas Reed at the center and spreading the floor around. that gave the Thunder a little bit of problems in the regular season. Maybe that’s sustainable. Maybe that can cause some trouble, but other than that, they need to figure out how to get Julius Randle and these other bigs going, dominating the boards, playing defense, and scoring and putting some pressure on this Thunder team. Hugh, I want your thoughts on this. We’re either going to get an OKC Indiana NBA Finals, or either the Knicks or the Wolves are going to win four of the next five, which just doesn’t happen a lot at this level of the playoffs. Which comeback is is likelier to you, Knicks against the Pacers or the Wolves over the Thunder? Uh, I don’t think either will happen. I’m with you on that. But if you had to ask me which one is like, I would I the from the looks of it, I think Knicks coming back over the Paces would be more likely. I feel like the way that the Thunder have gone about it, they look like it’s a one-sided series right now. That’d be the first time that ever happens at this level of the playoffs. A team to drop the first two games at home, come back to win the series. I feel like the way that Q said that might have been a personal attack on me, but I’m just Yeah, I’m just saying. I just thought that I did. Okay, you show up in Pacers yellow. What do you think happened? Boys, thanks so much. We appreciate your time. Say you was rocking other team colors. Hey, game three of the Western Conference Finals between SDA and the Thunder and Ant-Man and the Wolves just hours from now, 8:30 p.m. Eastern tonight on ABC.

On SportsCenter, Quentin Richardson, David Dennis Jr., Iman Shumpert and Brian Windhorst join SportsCenter to recap the Indiana Pacers win over the New York Knicks in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals of the 2025 NBA Playoffs and discuss Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals between the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Oklahoma City Thunder.

0:00 Pacers-Knicks highlights
4:08 Thoughts on final shot from Jalen Brunson
5:38 The flow of the Pacers’ offense
7:53 Can the Knicks recover in this series?
9:45 Impact of Pascal Siakam
11:33 Tom Thibodeau’s coaching decisions
12:43 How do the Timberwolves get back on track?
14:02 The Timberwolves need to make shots
14:56 How can OKC win Game 3?
16:19 The impact of SGA and Jalen Williams for OKC
17:48 How can the Timberwolves make this a series?
19:38 More likely to come back: Timberwolves or Knicks?

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