Five takeaways from Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals

KAT gets his share of criticism, but he's come through with some huge performances in helping his teams to the conference finals in consecutive seasons. Indiana simply couldn't stop him in the last part of the game, which the Knicks played largely without Jalen Brunson  — though he returned to make the go-ahead basket.

Brunson is the Clutch Player of the Year, but Towns might be the most important Knick in this series.

2. Josh Hart didn't start, but he certainly closed

The Knicks swapped Josh Hart out of the starting lineup for Mitchell Robinson, a move that backfired when Brunson and Miles McBride got into foul trouble. Hart ended up playing the third-most minutes on the team with 34, including the entirety of the final quarter. He led the team with four assists, and grabbed five rebounds in the fourth, racking up a steal and two assists.

With 20 seconds to go, Hart went up in a crowd of taller players to get the rebound on Myles Turner's missed three and drew a foul. When Hart calmly nailed his two free throws, the Knicks had a four-point lead — and then he repeated his hustling effort two possessions later to ice the game.

3. The Pacers slowed down late and the Knicks caught up

There's no such thing as the prevent defense in basketball, but the Pacers essentially ran a prevent offense in the second half. They'd rocked the Knicks early by playing at a relentless pace, taking opportunities to run even after the Knicks made baskets.

As a result, the Pacers scored just 42 points in the second half and 20 in the final quarter. They had 13 assists before halftime, and only eight afterward. After the game, Tyrese Haliburton took the blame for the stagnant offense. 

"I think down the stretch, a game like this comes down to one or two possessions, so just trying to execute the right way, get guys in the right spots. But yeah, it's definitely an area where I know when I watch film, I'm going to kick myself for it.

"I'm already thinking about it, kicking myself for it. ...I think that's just part of it and I got to be better there. Honestly, I think a lot of our offensive struggles in the second half were due to me, so I got to be better there and I will be better in Game 4."

4. Tom Thibodeau had to play his bench and they came through

Thibodeau isn't known for his deep rotations, but foul trouble in Game 3 forced his hand. When he did go to deep reserves Landry Shamet and Delon Wright, they delivered the kind of solid, defensively-tough minutes that every coach wants.

Shamet was +12 in his 11 minutes and Wright was +2 in his 13, hitting his lone shot and adding a steal. There's no guarantee those two will continue to get minutes, but with the Knicks starting lineup playing ineffectively as a group in the playoffs, Wright and Shamet give Thibs some much-needed options.

5. Three-point shooting swings comebacks, both ways

Towns and OG Anunoby drilling shots behind the arc helped the Knicks overcome their deficit, but the lead would have been too big had Indiana not gone cold from deep. The Pacers shot 2-for-12 in the second half and 5-for-25 overall. To their credit, they didn't relentlessly heave three-pointers when they weren't falling, but even one more three from Haliburton (2-for-8) or Turner (1-for-6) might have meant that the Pacers took an insurmountable (in NBA history at least) 3-0 series lead.