NBA Matchups: May 14

Indiana Pacers at New York Knicks

Team Totals: Pacers 107.3, Knicks 109.8

Injury Report: Tyrese Haliburton (Q, back), OG Anunoby (O, hamstring)

Pacers projected starters: Tyrese Haliburton, Andrew Nembhard, Aaron Nesmith, Pascal Siakam, Myles Turner

Knicks projected starters: Jalen Brunson, Donte DiVincenzo, Josh Hart, Precious Achiuwa, Isaiah Hartenstein

Offensive Ranks: Pacers 2nd, Knicks 7th
Defensive Ranks: Pacers 24th, Knicks 10th 

Carlisle quotes: Said they just had better focus on defense and were able to sustain it, said Nembhard on Donte was a great adjustment and early in the series they weren’t giving him enough respect, said they know what is coming at MSG, said “every game is monumentally important” and being down 0-2 was a big hole, said McConnell “will be ready every game” and he doesn’t have to worry about him.

Thibs quotes: Said they just get ready for the next one, said OG being out is no excuse and he was out for a good part of the season, said they just have to respond from this one regardless of how much they lost by, said his team has responded all year, said he went smaller in the second half to have more speed/shooting, said they can’t overlook McConnell and Nembhard.

Stats and Notes:

Rim points per game: Pacers 1st, Knicks 28th

Rim points allowed per game: Pacers 29th, Knicks 10th

Catch and shoot points per game: Pacers 11th, Knicks 19th 

Catch and shoot points allowed per game: Pacers 1st, Knicks 16th

PNR handler scoring per game: Pacers 4th, Knicks 6th

PNR handler scoring allowed per game: Pacers 30th, Knicks 23rd

Transition scoring per game: Pacers 2nd, Knicks 14th

Transition scoring allowed per game: Pacers 15th, Knicks 13th

*Yeah, I mean we can basically flush Game 4, but the Knicks just running out of rotation-caliber players could carry over into today’s game. In Game 4, the Pacers had an absurd 38 points in transition and had 24 points on unguarded C&S shots. It was too easy for the Pacers. The Knicks were pretty good at limiting that stuff in Game 3, so we should be able to say that wasn’t just because of OG Anunoby missing the game. I’d expect the Knicks to limit them a bit, but it’s certainly possible the Knicks don’t have their legs on defense again. For New York’s offense, they just couldn’t do anything early and it snowballed. They missed some good looks at just 0.58 PPP on their 26 C&S shots. Their transition offense was a disaster at 0.68, which was an area they were fairly successful in the postseason. Among the teams that are still alive, the Pacers are the only team that has won every home game, so the MSG crowd has to bring it tonight.

*Tyrese Haliburton is back on track here. He’s really leaned on his jumper in the last three games, and he’s just crushing at a 75.0 eFG% on his 14 C&S attempts. He’s also been effective on his 29 pull-ups at a 58.6 eFG%. It doesn’t really feel all that sustainable to have this shot profile, but we’ve seen sustained runs of hot Haliburton shooting from earlier this year. The Knicks aren’t being very aggressive with him on the defensive end, and they seem more concerned about his passing. He’s not really driving much, but he’s been effective when he does. While he does have some injuries, there’s some nice upside on Haliburton today.