INDIANAPOLIS — It took two-and-a-half games, but the Knicks defense finally showed up in the Eastern Conference finals.
They wouldn’t have sliced their series deficit in half without it.
The Knicks guarded like they haven’t this entire series, locking down the Pacers over the final 24 minutes to secure a much-needed 106-100 Game 3 victory at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Sunday night.
There were plenty of heroes. Karl-Anthony Towns scored 20 of his 24 points in a heroic fourth quarter.
Jalen Brunson shook off a shaky night to hit the game-winning shot with 1:17 left.
The bench was terrific, and that included seldom-used reserves Landry Shamet and Delon Wright.
But the Knicks were able to overcome a 20-point deficit for the third time in this postseason, becoming the first team to achieve that feat in the play-by-play era (dating back to 1997), because they finally were able to contain the Pacers.
“It’s just firing away and moving around and being alert every time, no laziness on that end, no ball give up, no the ball leaves the hand and you relax,” Mikal Bridges said. “Nobody’s relaxing. Everybody’s ready to step up and step up for the next guy. So we need that every time.”
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Over the final two quarters, Indiana managed just 42 points.
They were held to 20 in the final stanza.
The Pacers shot just 36.8 percent from the field after halftime, made only two 3-pointers in 12 attempts, committed eight turnovers and were limited to two fast break points after piling up 14 in the first half.
Pascal Siakam and Tyrese Haliburton were kept under wraps, combining for 37 points.
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It was, arguably, their best defensive half of the playoffs.
“We have to come out with the intensity, the physicality, the ball pressure to start the game,” Josh Hart said. “We rebounded the ball and we got out in transition and got easy baskets. Defensively, we communicated at a high level, we recognized mismatches, we put out fires, we rotated.”