The Pacers Forced A Game 7 Back In New York With The Latest Blowout In This Series

For the third straight game in the Pacers-Knicks series, the home team picked up a blowout win, as Indiana protected homecourt in Game 6 to the tune of a 116-103 win (that wasn’t as close as that final score indicates), sending things back to the Garden for a Game 7 on Sunday.

It looked like we might finally get a competitive game, as the two teams traded punches and leads through the first quarter and a half, with Indiana playing much more inspired team ball at home and Deuce McBride providing a big lift off the bench for New York.

However, as the second quarter wound to a close, the Pacers ripped off a big run to take control of the game with a 10-point lead going into the halftime break.

Tyrese Haliburton got going in the third quarter, as his home-road splits continue to be maddening, and the Pacers extended their lead further.

The Knicks would trim the lead down to 13 going to the fourth and seemed like they might make one last push to get things close, but the Pacers quickly shut down those hopes, pushing their lead out to 20 and ending the threat.

It was a balanced attack from the Pacers, but Pascal Siakam led the way with 25 points and 7 rebounds on the night.

In support, the Pacers saw Tyrese Haliburton (15 points, 9 assists), Myles Turner (17 points, 8 rebounds), Andrew Nembhard (15 points, six assists), TJ McConnell (15 points), and Obi Toppin (11 points) all get into double figures. What is maybe most encouraging for Indiana is they didn’t win thanks to a red-hot shooting night (34.6 percent from three), but by imposing their will physically and taking the fight to the Knicks — something New York did to them in Game 6.

The Knicks looked like a tired, worn down team once again on the road, with Josh Hart being the latest Knick to pick up an injury with an abdominal injury that limited him to 31 minutes and had him in clear pain on the bench. McBride was the bright spot offensively, with 20 points on 8-of-12 shooting, but it was otherwise a grind for New York to get much of anything going on offense. Jalen Brunson finished with 31 points but shot just 11-of-26 from the field, while Donte DiVincenzo added 17 points on 6-of-14 shooting. As a team, New York shot just 43.9 percent from the floor and 69.2 percent from the free throw line, as they just could not get into a rhythm with their shot from anywhere.

Now the series shifts back to New York and the same question persists: Can a road team finally get a win in this series? The first three games were all tight, but since then it’s been blowout after blowout, and the Pacers will have to prove they can get this kind of effort, intensity, and focus to travel to New York on Sunday afternoon for Game 7 at 3:30 p.m. ET on ESPN.