Tom Thibodeau, who in the best of times delivers basketball platitudes in halting grunts, was reduced to snarling sentence fragments. Jalen Brunson took a full 10 seconds to think and compose himself before speaking a word. Josh Hart, generally the New York Knicks’ most effusive voice, went monotone.
And then there was the shriek of a single despairing fan, echoing above the din near the 8th Avenue escalators at Madison Square Garden, just after 10:30 p.m. Friday night:
“FUCCCKKK!!!”
If the Knicks themselves were being honest, they’d have screamed the same expletive, and added several more. Their situation has suddenly turned dire, bordering on bleak: down 2-0 in the Eastern Conference finals, to the bouncy, tenacious Indiana Pacers, who followed up their miracle overtime victory in Game 1 with a more basic, but no less devastating, 114-109 triumph in Game 2.
This time it was Pascal Siakam throwing haymakers (39 points), while Game 1 assassin Tyrese Haliburton (14 points) simply added some finishing touches. The Pacers again looked quicker, deeper, stronger, and more poised in crunch time.
And now the series shifts to Indianapolis for the next two games, with the Knicks’ playoff existence—and a championship vision that felt so tangible just days ago—now facing an abrupt end. History suggests they’re in serious trouble. NBA teams that take a 2-0 lead in a best-of-seven series go on to win the series at a 92 percent rate.
“I've said this so many times that I have the utmost confidence and trust in our teammates,” Brunson said. “We've been in positions where we've been counted out, and we found a way to win. So, just one step at a time.”
To be clear, it’s a lot of steps. The Knicks would have to win four of the next five games, and at least twice in Indianapolis, where the Pacers have lost just once this postseason. Indiana also hasn’t lost four times in a five-game stretch since early December.
It wasn’t supposed to be like this. Just a week ago, fans were dancing on taxi stands and climbing light poles to celebrate the Knicks’ takedown of the Boston Celtics, and their first trip to the Eastern Conference finals in 25 years. Just a few days ago, the Knicks were being hailed as conquering heroes: The city temporarily renamed 15 streets in their honor—from “Jalen Brunson Boulevard” in Greenwich Village to Karl-Anthony Towns Square in Midtown. (Even rookie Tyler Kolek got a sign, at 7th Avenue and West 13th Street.) A bit excessive? Sure, but such is the effect this Knicks squad has had on the city, which hasn’t seen a viable NBA contender since the 1990s, or a championship since 1973.
The Knicks didn’t open this season as title favorites, but they did approach it with a clear championship-or-bust mentality. Their offseason trades for Towns (which cost them two key players) and Mikal Bridges (which cost them a ton of draft picks) telegraphed their intentions: They were all in. The time was now. When they ousted the defending champion Celtics in the conference semifinals, the path to the finals seemed to be cleared.
Then Tyrese Haliburton happened. The shot that bounced high off the rim, above the shot clock and back down through the net happened. The Choke 2.0 happened. That Game 1 loss was a stunner, but not necessarily a deathknell. And despite another shaky night, the Knicks were in position most of the night to take Game 2. Indiana never led by more than 10 points. The Knicks trailed by just 3 points with 6:36 left to play. But they never slowed down Siakam, who punished them both inside and out all night, repeatedly scoring over defensive ace OG Anunoby, his onetime teammate with the Toronto Raptors.
Over the course of the game, cracks began to show in the Knicks’ resolve and their rotation. Mitchell Robinson, who was so active and effective on the boards in Game 1, looked thoroughly gassed late in Game 2 after logging 29 minutes—his second-highest total this season, after a nine-month rehab following an ankle surgery. And Towns, who put up 35 points in Game 1, was so inconsistent Friday that Thibodeau benched him for a key 7-minute stretch of the fourth quarter. He played just 28 minutes, finishing with 20 points and 7 rebounds.
Thibodeau was in no mood to explain the decision, beyond saying, “The group that was in there gave us a chance” and “we’re just searching for a way to win.”
The fact is, the Knicks’ starting unit has been getting outplayed and outscored for much of the postseason—by 21 points over the first two rounds, and by 29 points so far in this series. They fell behind by 10 points in the first 7 minutes after tipoff Friday night. “I think maybe we’re just playing a little too soft at the beginning of halves,” Bridges said. Would Thibodeau consider a lineup change? “We always look at everything,” he said.
And yet, once again, the game was winnable down the stretch. Brunson scored five straight points to pull the Knicks within three with 1:06 to play. Aaron Nesmith and Siakam missed consecutive shots, leaving the door open for a Knicks comeback. On the concourse, a security guard watching on a large-screen TV, tried to rally the fans around him. “Y’all don’t believe in miracles?!” Brunson found Hart for a layup, leaving them down 110-109 with 14.9 seconds left. “Y’all don’t believe in miracles?!” he bellowed again.
But Nesmith hit a pair of free throws to push the lead back to 3. And when Brunson’s deep prayer struck only the backboard as time expired, a mass of dejected New Yorkers began their sad trek down the escalators. They were decidedly quiet, somber, until one exasperated scream reverberated above them all.
“FUCCCKKK!!!”
“I feel the same way,” the security guard replied softly, to no one in particular.
