Pacers Praise Knicks After Game 3 Comeback

The New York Knicks are waking up rejuvenated after a 20-point comeback to win Game 3 in the Eastern Conference Finals, inching their way back into the series.

The win puts the series at 2-1 in favor of the Pacers, who earned a lot of respect from their opponent after winning Game 3 on the road.

“We did a poor job of closing the third quarter, and not a good enough start to the fourth quarter turned it into a real back-and-forth game,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said h/t The Athletic's Shakeia Taylor.

“They executed down the stretch, and we did not execute well enough. So credit them for fighting hard, hanging in. We got a pretty deep, pretty good lead in the third quarter, but didn’t do a good enough job of attacking but also avoiding miscues. So, difficult loss.”

The Pacers credited the Knicks' victory to their defensive lineups, especially down the stretch. The Knicks allowed just 100 points, a series low, in the win.

“They had a lot of their better defenders in the game in the second half, and that makes it harder,” Carlisle said.

“And so you’ve got to grind defensively to get rebounds. There’s a different element of grinding when you’re going against their better guys. We’re going to have to do better in a lot of those situations. And there were times we got good shots and just simply didn’t hit them.”

The Knicks' lineup adjustments from the first two games appeared to pay off. Going deeper in the bench, a tactic coach Tom Thibodeau has gone against in the past, was the right move as the Knicks had fresher legs for the tail end of the game.

The Pacers will respond accordingly as the Knicks try to tie the series going back to Madison Square Garden.