The Knicks’ Sport 7 protection was historic. And never in a great way.
New York’s energy all season, it cratered to finish their postseason.
They had been bounced from the Jap Convention semifinals by Indiana in a horrid 130-109 loss on the sold-out Backyard on Sunday.
The shocked crowd numbered 19,812. It solely felt like that’s what number of wide-open appears to be like the injury-riddled Knicks allowed.
They let Indiana shoot 67.1 % general, the very best share in NBA playoff historical past.
And that’s after they tightened up within the second half, their early protection even worse than that.
“They made pictures. They’re an excellent offensive group. You’ve obtained to problem their pictures, and we didn’t problem them as a lot as we must always have,” Tom Thibodeau mentioned. “While you’re shorthanded, we all know we’ve to play with nice depth on a regular basis to provide ourselves an opportunity to win. In the event you fall in need of that … and generally the ball goes in and yours doesn’t.”
All the pieces Indiana put up went in, particularly early on.
What had been a stout protection lastly snapped below the burden of accidents.
The Knicks let the Pacers hit 9 of their first 10 makes an attempt, and 16 of 21 in a primary quarter they noticed them fall behind 39-27.
Indiana’s Tyrese Haliburton had 14 factors in that opening interval, setting a tone the Knicks by no means reversed.
They stored letting the purpose guard get to his spots again and again for a slide-step 3-pointer they knew was coming, however didn’t have sufficient left within the tank to cease.
The Knicks had been permitting 80 % taking pictures — 24 of 30 — with 5:33 left within the first half, and it was 76.3 % by the point they hit intermission.
It was the very best taking pictures half of any postseason recreation on document.
“[It came down to] making and lacking pictures. I might say that’s a tricky group, a group that’s very environment friendly on the offensive finish. So like I mentioned, you’ve obtained to provide them credit score,” Josh Hart mentioned of the Pacers’ efficiency. “No excuses. They got here out. They performed exhausting. They’d alternatives like I mentioned to fold, to stop, to pack it in, and so they didn’t. So we’ve gotta give them credit score. They performed properly.”
Knicks guard Donte DiVincenzo, who scored a game-high 39 factors himself on 9 of 15 from 3-point vary, might solely tip his cap to Indiana’s scalding taking pictures.
“Yeah. You at all times must tip your cap,” DiVincenzo mentioned. “That’s an extended, hard-fought collection. You already know they got here able to play.”
