FULL REACTION 🏀 Knicks defeat Pacers & force a Game 6 in the Eastern Conference Finals | SC with SVP

FULL REACTION 🏀 Knicks defeat Pacers & force a Game 6 in the Eastern Conference Finals | SC with SVP

a game they had to have on their home floor, forcing a game six in Indiana over the weekend. And the tone setter according to Tim Leggler, that man right there in the first quarter getting buckets for his guys throwing it up top. Mitchell Robinson, a splash play that lets the Garden feel itself a little bit. Had to be on edge. Had to be nervous. But there, superstar, calm down everybody. I got this. He hits one three. Next Knicks possession. Bottoms 14 first quarter points. New York had the lead by four. Off the miss from Don Wright. Carl Anthony Towns who was also excellent in this is there for the putback. The lead is five. You’ve seen this one a bunch now. Legs showed you it a couple times. Towns three the hard way. the first third Knicks player I should say since 98 to have at least 15 and 10 and a half. He had 17 and 10 at the break. The lead is double digits into the third. Brunson get off me. That’s three the hard way. Actually the real hard way. Missed the free throw. The lead’s still 13. How about three more? That’s Cash. The lead grows to 16. Now Towns flailing down the lane as he does and the lead is 18. Brunson again. Cookie Steve cookies first. Nick with 10 30point games in a single postseason. They’re cruising into the fourth. But this Indiana team, you want to make sure you put them to bed. Brunson Bridges. Nice fine bounce to Hart. Not quite night night, but getting close. The Nova Knicks doing their thing. Brunson goes for 32 and five. They just were not going to let this Pacers team get close enough to think about it. And Towns one more time absorbs the contact from the smaller Mathan. He had 24 and 13. And New York forces a game six. Indiana now 1-6 all time with a chance to clinch the Eastern Conference Finals. They’ve lost a clinching opportunity in five different series including tonight. Only win came in 2000. Kat, you said this was going to be the biggest fight of your all’s life. Back against the wall. How are you guys able to respond in such a big way tonight on your home court? Uh I thought we did a good job coming out with energy. Uh the energy was great. fans brought in and uh you know I think that we just did a great job of uh being the first ones to throw a punch and uh that’s why we got this win tonight. At the end of game one, you had a big lead, but it felt like you guys slowed down and tried to protect that lead. Tonight that wasn’t the case. What do you think about the way that you guys played with the lead tonight? Uh I thought we did a good job. Uh you know, we could do better, but um at all in all at the end of the day, we got the W. So that’s the most important thing. Indiana is such a great shooting team. They play with great pace. How are you guys able to disrupt that and force so many turnovers on the defensive end? Uh, I thought we did a great job. Like I said, pressure, energy. We did a great job of, uh, bringing bringing the fight to them tonight, uh, early on, too. So, uh, it’s kind of reminiscent of game one. I thought we did a better job with the lead, though. You force a game six, you head back to Indianapolis. What is the challenge that presents? Force of game seven. Best of luck. That’s the challenge. Best of luck. Appreciate it. Yeah, rough night for me. Uh, I got to be better. Um, setting the tone, getting downhill. You know, I feel like I didn’t do a great job of that. Um, but I’ll watch the film. There were some different things they did defensively. Um, but for the most part, I think their base stuff was the same. Uh, they picked up the pressure a little bit more, tried to apply more as the game went on. Um, but yeah, I got I got to be better and I’ll be better in uh in game six. But, you know, I watched the film and uh, you know, learn from it like I like I always try to do and um, you know, be prepared for game six. Starters in general tonight. What did you feel like was going around for you guys and how much do you feel like stems from that stuff you just said with you? you worded that in a nice way. Um, yeah, we uh we weren’t great uh as a group. I thought, you know, we lost the margin battle today. You know, I thought uh they they did a better job in the margins. You know, we turned the ball over too much, didn’t rebound to our ability, um like we have shown this series, um and when you do those two things against these guys in a game that comes down to, you know, so so many possessions, uh it’s tough. It’s tough. So, we got to be better as a group. Uh I think our pace has to be better and that starts with me. I got to be better there. Um, and uh, yeah, as a group we’ve shown that uh, we we can have some success, you know, this this playoffs and it was a rough showing for us tonight. So, you know, we’ll watch the film, see where we can get better and uh, be prepared for game six. Pace is too much for the Knicks and all that. So, then they they turn up the ball pressure tonight. Yeah. Did that surprise you at all that they actually kind of tried to play a little more like you guys play? No. No. I mean, we’re up 3-1. their season’s on the line today, you know, so understand they’re going to come out and play hard. Um, you know, increase the pressure, uh, do whatever they got to do to win. And they did a great job of that. And, uh, you know, now it’s on us to respond in, uh, in game six. So, I I think when it when you get here at this point, there’s no such thing as surprises. You know, you you got to be prepared for whatever whatever is, uh, whatever is to come. So, you know, they they they you know, kudos to them. They played better than us today. And uh, we got to be prepared for game six. J.R. Smith. Hey, tell J.R. Van Pelt said leave you alone. All right. No, he’ll just stay here and keep talking. Okay, cool. The point I’m making is you’ve had a hell of a season and obviously no one in New York wants it to end tonight. What kind of mentality did your group bring to the floor? Yeah, I mean, we were desperate. Obviously, we knew it was uh it was win or or be done, win or go home. So, um, you know, we just give it everything we have and we just found a way. I know I’m going to visit with Tim Leggler in a bit and as we’re watching, he’s he felt like there was intent. The head was down. You guys are bullying your way straight line to the bucket. How much of that was sort of looking at the tape and feeling like maybe that was uh something that would work for not just you, but your whole squad. Was that something that was intentional? I mean, we have we have the personnel to get in the paint and make plays and so um we know we can touch the paint, good things happen. So, uh we just found a way to keep doing it and um trusting each other and uh being aggressive for ourselves as well. You all have been excellent on the road all year uh in the postseason in particular. So, I you guys understand this mentality of what has to happen. So, what has to happen? I know you’re smiling as I’m asking you like what do you what do you imagine you’re walking into this weekend? Well, there’s a lot of people trying to distract me, but um I I understand. Uh I mean there’s a uh I mean we got to be focused now. We can’t look ahead now. We can’t uh look too far. We just got to be focused on that first quarter and then how we play and then go on from there. I think uh we just got to focus on the present. How hard is it to focus right now? cuz I’m picturing what you’re looking at and I’m imagining it’s a who’s who of of media and past dignitaries in New York. What What are you seeing that but beyond the camera right now, Jaylen? Uh I see a lot of former players. Uh but they’re all they’re all chilling right now. There’s no one’s really distracting me now, but um it’s a pretty cool site to see when you see all the former guys come back and um I show a face and it’s it’s really cool. I was wondering about the building like what kind of energy is it? because there’s nothing like that place when we get to May and then almost June, but I imagine there’s got to be a it’s got to be tense. This is a hell of a team you’re playing. They beat you guys twice in that building. So, like were they on edge early like uh just in kind of the energy that you felt in the building in terms of we’re ready to go or a little bit of uneasiness? Uh I don’t know. Uh I was just focusing on the court, but one thing’s for sure. I mean, their energy stands on us, you know, if we’re coming out playing as hard as we can, doing what we got to do. I mean I mean they’re going to show they’re going to show the respect and they’re going to be loud for us and so um they were that tonight. Well, listen I uh I can imagine that you’re people are only going to bother you more. I’m sure you want to take this headset off and go get to your squad, your family and all the rest. Thanks for taking a minute, Jaylen. Good luck uh this weekend in game six. All right. I appreciate it. Thanks, Scott. Tim Leggler in the building. Um got the touchcreen that you’re going to show us that I I I kind of gave like a little bit of a preview with what you and I were going to talk about visiting with Jaylen. didn’t realize I’d be the order of it. But as you’re watching the intent and what New York is doing, I’m asking you, is that something that would have been a self scout from the film where they’re like, “This is the approach we need to take.” Definitely. We’re bigger, we’re stronger, and this is to our advantage. You know, their tempo is their advantage. This is our advantage in the series. And I thought Jaylen Brunson maybe didn’t want to tip his hand. You can’t tell me Scott, we did this because of that. Tell me to discuss that in a film session because look, Scott, you know that paint area, that blue area makes up a relatively small part of of your end of the floor offensively. They had 75 points in there tonight between free throws and paint points. So, here’s where it is. It’s just everybody making up their mind to win their one-on- ones, and they did it the entire game, and they did it as soon as they caught the basketball. Let the possession play out the beginning. Going to swing the ball to the opposite side. You know, right here, you got Miles Turner on the bench. Carl Anthony Towns knows if he can come up here and catch the ball and I think Seakum just lets him have this too easily. I would have denied this. Yeah, you got a good situation over here defensively with that matchup. Instead, Towns is able to flash up, catch the ball. He lets everybody clears out. He’s patient. You see Sakum getting his hands in there and he’s trying to be, you know, touchy with him at the point of attack. Carl Town’s too big and strong. He’s going to swing through over the top and put his head down. The guy I want you to focus on though is Benedict Mat right here. He’s got an opportunity and you got to make this play. You see Carl Anthony Towns barreling toward you. He is not going to do anything other than run right through your chest, but he doesn’t want to do it. And I felt this was the approach all night of the Knicks. Olay, I dare you to step in front of me. They didn’t seem very often willing to do that. Now, here we go. Defensively, what I loved about them tonight, one, they started taking away a little bit more of this space. They were picking Hallebertton up back here the other night. You see, so McBride makes him feel him just a little bit. Uh they’re going to run some action here and they’re going to try to get to this quick dribble handoff. This is something else they were not doing. Miles McBride fought over the top of that screen to make him pick the basketball up. Josh Hart hedges off. He’s ready in case he did turn the corner knowing that he’s got this close out. This is one of their best possessions of the night. Close out comes takes him off the three-point line. Obie Toppin is going to put it down. Remember what I said about Matine not willing to step in and get in the way. Watch Bridges. He’s just going to stand here and wait. The reason is because he’s guarding TJ McConnell. He knows he’s not really a three-point threat on his dribble handoff. So, Bridges is going to provide the appropriate amount of help for Hart right here. Beautiful. Execute this switch. He pushes him back to McConnell. So, when McConnell comes off here, he has to veer out because of the job that Hart does to pick him up. Great switch executed right there. And then it ends with this. Get around one more time. McBride over the top. This time though, you’ve got to get a weak side close out and watch the effort by McBride. Runs all the way to the weak side and you end up with at the end of all that this a running one-hander by Shephard with a hand up. You you finish all great defensive possessions, securing the rebound. That was a whole lot of effort, a whole lot of being smarter about who you’re playing against. Look, we gave Tyrus Hallebert all the love in the world the other night and he deserved it. He was a nonfactor in this game. some of it his own doing and he’s going to see that on the film. A lot of it the Knicks approach offensively by forcing the Pacers to defend the paint the entire first two and a half threequarters of the game. Taking the ball to the net all night, you’re not going to be able to run. When last we spoke, you were just kind of baffled about the I’m saying it, not you. The lack of sort of IQ from this group, the lack of valuing the basketball, but we saw a different Nick team. A a Nick team that I think tapped into the the energy in the building, played with intent and purpose. What most impressed you about their approach to the game this evening? I thought you got a level of composed urgency top to bottom and obviously as I heard you in a highlight SVP Jaylen Brunson sets the tone from that. But Carl Anthony Towns also has a terrific game. Josh Hart gets back to more of a signature Josh Hart style game with a double double and your guys off the bench including Hart with this new reinvented starting lineup. But Dylon Wright, Landry Sham continue to give you valuable minutes on defense and you hold this Pacers highpowered offense under a 100 points. That to me was very very impressive. I thought this group played deliberate on both ends of the floor. Look, Kenny the Jet Smith got a lot of run for the line about Tibs. Wouldn’t play nine if it’s a baseball game. But I think you’re starting you’re starting I know I know I’m just quoting the man. You’re starting to see it seems people that are earning more trust from Tibs. And I mean, look, it’s no secret the man plays the guys he plays, but it seems more trust is being earned and it seems that that’s probably necessary. You agree? I would agree. And I think role players, particularly guys that come off the bench, they have to me one of the harder jobs in the league, particularly in the New York Knicks uniform. You have such a limited amount of time to make a positive impact. You’re not warm necessarily, even sit on the bench cheering on your team, right? And so Landry Shaman, Don Wright, even Precious Aua tonight, who played, I believe, four minutes in total, being able to come in with a level of professionalism to continue to earn trust from not just his, but the rest of this rotation. I I said to you, I believe I said to you the other night, SVP, I think there’s a fine line between adjustments are starting to get out of character. Well, now these adjustments to me are starting to become a part of the character of the Knicks in this series versus Indiana. I’m interested in your perspective as someone given your talents and background as a player. the same way I am with Tim Leggler. I’d ask you, what do you make of the relative absence of Ty Hallebertton’s impact in the game after what we saw in game five, which is as high game four, I beg your pardon, which is as high level as you can play. What did you make of this two for seven, eight-point night? Well, I go back to something he said after game three when he said 100 points is not us. Well, 90 points is certainly not them. So, the thing that I’m coming to is perhaps the Knicks being able to be deliberate, particularly defensively, and slow the pace in this one really took the wind out of his sails. I thought the Knicks did a really good job in the first half and in the last two minutes of the first of the second quarter and the first two minutes of the third quarter of staying focused because typically in this series, those were areas in which the Pacers were able to close the gaps, find some energy, and so they took those stretches away from the Knicks and he just couldn’t get it going. But I will say this, and I said this locally here in New York, the Knicks need to be fully prepared for what will be considered a Tyresese Hallebert and bounceback game. Energized by that crowd at Gamebridge and the opportunity to close out at home. I’m sure he’ll put up a more aggressive line than what you saw tonight. Seven field goal attempts. That doesn’t seem quite right for him. Yeah, I mentioned it, Tim. We’ve seen that throughout the playoffs from a number of what I would consider star players, whether it’s a Jimmy Butler or an Anne Edwards or tonight it’s Hallebertton. I I just want one final thought given your uh uh proximity to this Nick team all year, understanding them as well as you do. Yeah, you know what you’re walking into, but you also know if you lose it’s over. What What do you presume you will see from New York in terms of of effort and plan. What do you think you’re going to see in game six? Well, I still think there’s room for them to improve the turnover battle. They gave up 20 points off turnovers again. and now it doesn’t hurt you tonight the way that it has the potential to hurt you in an energized uh gamebridge fieldhouse. So turnovers is one thing. I think they are playing with a sense of urgency now that you just cannot create, right? Like one team is literally facing the end of their season and I think that has actually heightened their focus and their awareness. Um so I think they’re going to have to go into Indiana keyed in defensively. I actually think you have an opportunity to see more minutes from some of those guys on the bench that have proven to be a challenge defensively for the Pacers. And then it’s got to be another high efficiency performance from your leaders SVP. Like that’s what it comes down to. They’ve got to shoot the ball well enough even at their pace to be able to keep up with this high-scoring offense of the Pacers. I’ve said it forever. You can’t fake desperation. And New York is still the only team in the game on Saturday that is facing elimination. So we’ll see what fuels the road team and the home team as well. Monica, as always, your time appreciated. Be well until next time. Okay. Sounds

On SportsCenter with Scott Van Pelt, Tim Legler and Monica McNutt join to give their reactions to the Knicks’ Game 5 win over the Pacers and forcing a Game 6 in the Eastern Conference Finals. Then, SVP listens in to Tyrese Haliburton and Karl-Anthony Towns’ reactions to New York cutting Indiana’s series lead to 3-2.

0:00 Pacers-Knicks Game 5
2:28 KAT interview
3:32 Tyrese Haliburton news conference
5:33 Jalen Brunson joins the show
8:31 Tim Legler Touchscreen
12:03 Monica McNutt’s reaction

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