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Pascal Siakam carries Pacers to Game 2 win over Knicks
Pascal Siakam does a little bit of everything for the Indiana Pacers. In Friday's Game 2 win, he did a whole lot of scoring.
SIAKAM 3 FOR 26 POINTS
— NBA (@NBA) May 24, 2025
2H of Game 2 underway on TNT! pic.twitter.com/RMsTRZF7gu
Siakam led all scorers in the Pacers' 114-109 win over the New York Knicks with 39 points, giving his team huge momentum heading to Indianapolis with a 2-0 series lead. Jalen Brunson nearly matched Siakam's scoring with 36 points, shooting 13-of-27, but the Pacers' big man put up his huge numbers on only 23 shots, going 15-of-23.
Indiana roared back from 14 points down in the final minutes to steal Game 1, and the roles were nearly reversed in Game 2. After Siakam's layup gave the Pacers a 10-point lead with 2:45 to play, it was the Knicks who had a frantic comeback. Brunson hit two shots and assisted on a Josh Hart layup that brought the Knicks to within a point with 14 seconds left.
BRUNSON CUTS IT TO 3!@Pacers 110@nyknicks 107
— NBA (@NBA) May 24, 2025
1:05 to play in Game 2 on TNT pic.twitter.com/kZK02S6lVf
But the comeback fell short as the Pacers made their free throws, and Brunson missed a game-tying three with eight seconds to go. On a night where Indiana's superior three-point shooting made the difference, Siakam's 3-of-5 performance behind the arc was huge.
It was Siakam's fifth playoff game with 30+ points and perhaps his biggest scoring performance since he put up 32 points on 14-of-17 shooting in Game 1 of the NBA Finals. He's now a 49.2 percent shooter in 82 career playoff games. Since Siakam became a starter, his teams are 43-27 in the playoffs.
Perhaps most important is that the Pacers are 18-11 in the postseason since trading for Siakam. And they're up 2-0 in the Eastern Conference Finals.
More must-reads:
- Five takeaways from Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals
- Pacers demonstrate depth in Game 2 of Eastern Conference Finals
- The 'NBA minutes leaders by season' quiz
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