Karl-Anthony Towns did not score in the first quarter on Friday night, but thanks to Mitchell Robinson’s dynamic presence during much of the first half, Towns found more opportunities to navigate his offense, ultimately securing 20 points in the remaining three quarters.
Despite his efforts, Towns was on the bench for nearly seven minutes in the fourth quarter. Tom Thibodeau opted for the defensively skilled Robinson as the sole big man until the Pacers began employing the ‘hack-a-Shaq’ strategy. Towns reentered the game with 2:25 left, in what became the Knicks’ consecutive home defeat to the Pacers in the Eastern Conference finals, with a final score of 114-109 at the Garden.
During Towns’ 27 minutes of play, the Knicks were outscored by 20 points, with the starting lineup falling behind by 10 points early. However, Robinson and Miles McBride injected energy on both ends of the court off the bench, flipping the scoreboard to a 52-49 lead at halftime.
Robinson played 16 consecutive minutes — several on the court with Towns — before coming out to a standing ovation with 1:42 left in the second quarter. He finished the game with six points, nine rebounds (four offensive) and three blocked shots in 29 minutes, his most playing time in this year’s playoffs.
OG Anunoby had the opposite production in the first half, scoring all nine of his points through two quarters in the first, including a game-opening 3-pointer and a couple of dunks.
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The first slam came after he picked off a pass from T.J. McConnell in the backcourt, and the second was an alley-oop feed from Jalen Brunson.
Anunoby finished with 16 points as the Knicks fell to 2-6 in the playoffs when he does not score at least 20 points, compared to 6-0 when he reaches that figure.
Like Towns in the first, Anunoby didn’t score again before intermission, but Towns found him for an inside hoop midway through the third to bring the Knicks within 64-61.
He also buried a corner 3 to cut the deficit to two on the next possession.
Towns followed with another 3-pointer in response to a Tyrese Haliburton trey to keep the Knicks within two. Haliburton only scored two points on 1-of-7 shooting in the first half, but the All-Star point guard rang up 12 in the final two quarters to finish with 14 points and 11 assists.
