Knicks stay alive, dominate Game 5 to force trip back to Indy

With elimination hanging over them and the weight of the season pressing down, the Knicks delivered their most locked-in performance of the series. They didn’t just survive Game 5. They controlled it, start to finish. A 111-94 win over the Indiana Pacers at Madison Square Garden kept their season breathing and sent this Eastern Conference Finals back to Indianapolis for Game 6.

This one belonged to the duo that’s carried them all postseason. Jalen Brunson dropped 32 points with his usual mix of toughness and poise, and Karl-Anthony Towns powered through a bruised knee to post 24 points and 13 rebounds. Together, they became the first pair of teammates to score 20+ points in five straight Conference Finals games since Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant did it in 2002. That’s not just production—that’s legacy territory.

New York came out firing. They scored the first six points of the game and never looked back. An 11-2 burst early on built a 23-13 lead, and although the Pacers briefly pulled within two after a Pascal Siakam three cut it to 34-32 in the second quarter, the Knicks answered with a punishing 16-4 run. From there, it was never truly close. Indiana never led, never tied, and never trimmed the lead to single digits again after halftime.

“I wanted to set a tone, for sure. It wasn’t through putting the ball in the basket. That happened, but just trying to make sure we were all on the same page and ready to go. Our backs were against the wall.”

– Jalen Brunson

Jarace Walker and Bennedict Mathurin hit threes late in the second quarter to cut the deficit to 52-45, giving Indiana a flicker of hope. But the Knicks immediately responded with the final four points of the half, then opened the third with a continuation of that run—12-3 in total—that restored full control. They pushed the lead to 22 late in the third, and while the Pacers scrapped to make it respectable, they never got closer than 12.

For Tom Thibodeau, the decision to keep the rotation a bit wider paid off again. Six bench players saw time, with four logging 10 or more minutes. Josh Hart continued to thrive in his sixth-man role, finishing with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Landry Shamet and Miles McBride added 5 points apiece, and Precious Achiuwa, inserted late in the first half to avoid the Pacers targeting Mitchell Robinson with intentional fouls, chipped in 2 points in 6 scrappy minutes.

The broader rotation gave the starters a breather—none played more than 36 minutes—and it helped the Knicks crank up their defensive intensity. They held the Pacers under 100 points for the first time this postseason and took the air out of Indiana’s transition game.

Tyrese Haliburton was held to just 8 points on 2-of-7 shooting. Aaron Nesmith managed only 3 points on 1-of-8, and Siakam, though aggressive early, finished with just 15 on 5-of-13. Mathurin led Indiana with 23 off the bench, and Obi Toppin chipped in 11, but the rest of the rotation faded under the Garden’s pressure.

The Knicks dominated where it mattered—outscoring Indiana 60-34 in the paint, forcing 20 turnovers while committing only 15, and simply playing with a desperation the Pacers couldn’t match.

This wasn’t just any win—it was the Knicks’ first home victory in a Conference Finals since exactly 25 years ago. On May 29, 2000, it was Larry Johnson’s 25-point performance that led the Knicks to a 91-89 win over Reggie Miller’s Pacers in Game 4 to even that series. On the same date in 2025, it was Brunson and Towns doing the honors.

The mission now is clear. With the season still hanging by a thread, New York must go into Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Saturday night and steal Game 6. If they do, a decisive Game 7 awaits back in the Garden—a building that just reminded the league how loud it can still be when the Knicks are fighting for something real.