Sports
Brunson and Towns Ignite Madison Square Garden as Knicks Keep Playoff Dreams Alive
With a dominant Game 5 win over the Pacers, New York forces a do-or-die Game 6 and reignites hope for a stunning comeback in the Eastern Conference Finals
The roar inside Madison Square Garden wasn’t just noise—it was belief, revival, and a refusal to bow out. The New York Knicks, with their backs pressed against the playoff wall, came out swinging Thursday night and landed a statement 111-94 victory over the Indiana Pacers in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals.
Leading the charge was Jalen Brunson, who delivered yet another postseason masterpiece with 32 points on an electric 12-of-18 shooting. This marked his 21st 30+ point playoff performance as a Knick—a franchise record and a beacon of consistency in one of the franchise’s most memorable playoff runs in decades.
Beside him stood Karl-Anthony Towns, bruised but unbowed. Playing through a sore left knee sustained in Game 4, the All-Star big man dropped 24 points and hauled down 13 rebounds, silencing doubts about his availability and underscoring his grit in one of the biggest games of his career.
“We had to answer the call,” Towns said postgame. “And we did it together.”
That “togetherness” was on full display. The Knicks held Indiana to their lowest scoring total of the postseason and suffocated Tyrese Haliburton, who had torched them with a triple-double in Game 4. This time, the All-NBA guard was held to just eight points, connecting on only two shots—thanks in large part to Mikal Bridges’ suffocating perimeter defense.
Head coach Tom Thibodeau made key tactical shifts, including sticking with Mitchell Robinson in the starting lineup. Though Robinson only logged 20 minutes, his presence inside—racking up six points, six rebounds, two blocks and a steal—was instrumental in keeping Indiana out of rhythm.
Veteran role players Landry Shamet and Delon Wright also stepped up defensively, disrupting Indiana’s flow and helping swing momentum back in New York’s favor. Meanwhile, Cameron Payne, once a regular in the rotation, remained a healthy scratch for the third straight game—a sign that Thibodeau is zeroing in on defense-first lineups as the series tightens.
“Now, we’ve just got to replicate that same energy in the first quarter of Game 6,” Brunson said, his eyes set firmly on Indiana. “We’re not done yet.”
With the Garden crowd chanting “Knicks in 7!” from the opening tip to the final buzzer, New York has pulled the series back from the brink. Game 6 in Indianapolis looms large, and the possibility of becoming the 14th team in NBA history to overcome a 3-1 deficit suddenly feels less like fantasy and more like fate.