Tom Thibodeau’s blunt response to Knicks’ ugly Game 4 loss vs. Pacers

The Knicks fall in Game 4

To put things into perspective, the Pacers led by 28 at halftime, and they would balloon their advantage to as much as 43 points in the fourth. As Thibodeau mentioned, the Knicks immediately fell behind after tipoff. During the first quarter, Indiana outscored New York, 34-14. It would be smooth sailing the entire way for Tyrese Haliburton and Co., who gave the Pacers their second-largest playoff win in franchise history.

Haliburton scored 20 points while TJ McConnell added 15 points and 10 assists.

As for the Knicks, Alec Burks was the highest scorer, going for 20 points off the bench. As that previous sentence may have implied, the starters struggled. Jalen Brunson finished with 18 points, going just 6-of-17 (35.3%) from the floor. In fact, Brunson was the only player in the first five to finish in double figures. Donte DiVincenzo, who exploded for 35 points in Game 3, tallied just seven points on Sunday. Josh Hart was relatively quiet too, shooting 1-0f-6 and grabbing three boards — a far cry from his rebounding numbers in the previous games. Excluding Brunson, the other four starters combined for just 21 points.

As a team, New York shot 33.7% from the field. Their three-point percentage was even worse; the Knicks only made seven out of their 37 attempts from downtown (18.9%). On the other side, the Pacers tallied a 56.8 field goal percentage while shooting 45.2% from three-point range.

Free throws also hurt the Knicks. Out of the team’s 31 attempts from the charity stripe, they made only 22 (71%).

The injury bug is taking its toll

In New York’s defense, they’re severely shorthanded. The team has been without OG Anunoby in the past two games as the forward is currently dealing with a hamstring injury. Anunoby’s presence is sorely needed, especially on the boards and on the defensive end. To add to the woes, Mitchell Robinson just played his last postseason outing in Game 1 due to a stress injury on his left ankle. Additionally, the team entered the series without Julius Randle (shoulder surgery) and Bojan Bogdanovic (foot and wrist surgery).

The squad’s frontline is depleted. Josh Hart’s motor can only sustain so much, and it seemed to have run out of gas on Sunday. The Pacers outrebounded the Knicks, 52-43.

“Next man up,” many coaches would say. Game 5 tips off on Tuesday, and New Yorkers will see if the team can bounce back and fill the gaps that their sidelined players have (unintentionally) opened.