No miracle in Game 6: Knicks collapse after halftime as Pacers end their season again

This time, there was no miracle. No epic comeback. No late-game magic. Just a second-half unraveling that left the New York Knicks staring down a now-familiar fate: another playoff exit at the hands of the Indiana Pacers.

With the season on the line in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals, the Knicks were outplayed, outpaced, and out of answers. Indiana’s 125-108 win on their home floor didn’t just seal the series 4-2 — it slammed the door on New York’s hopes of returning to the NBA Finals for the first time in a quarter-century.

OG Anunoby led the Knicks with 24 points, Karl-Anthony Towns battled for 22 points and 14 rebounds, and Jalen Brunson added 19 points and 7 assists. But none of it was enough to offset what became a second-half meltdown of the worst kind.

The Knicks were hanging tough early. Anunoby’s smooth jumper late in the second quarter halted a Pacers run and trimmed the deficit to 58-54 at halftime. It felt like anyone’s game at the break. That feeling didn’t last.

Indiana came out swinging to open the third. Nine unanswered points turned a tight contest into a double-digit deficit in a blink. The Pacers kept pouring it on — extending their lead to 78-63, then 87-71 with just under three minutes left in the quarter. The Knicks were reeling and couldn’t land a counterpunch.

Down 15 heading into the fourth, there was a flicker of hope when the Knicks scored the first six points of the final frame. But just as quickly as they threatened, Obi Toppin quieted the rally with a pair of free throws. The lead ballooned back to double digits, and it stayed there. The Knicks never got within single digits again.

The game, like the series, turned on mistakes. New York committed 18 turnovers — many of them careless, some downright brutal — and the Pacers pounced, converting those miscues into a backbreaking 34 points. Indiana coughed up the ball just 13 times in comparison, allowing the Knicks only 13 points in return. That discrepancy alone told the story.

So did the tempo. The Pacers ran wild, pushing the pace all night and outscoring the Knicks 25-15 on fast breaks. That’s Indiana basketball — fast, fluid, and fueled by Tyrese Haliburton’s command at the point.

Haliburton was great again, racking up 21 points and 13 assists. Pascal Siakam lit up the scoreboard with 31, and Toppin — in another twist of the knife — dropped 18 against his former team. Together, they powered Indiana to its second-ever NBA Finals appearance, the first since 2000.

“There’s disappointment because you fall short of what your goal is. And in the end there’s only going to be one team that achieves the goal. So I think the challenge for us is to look at it for what it is. We finished in the top three. But we’re falling short of the ultimate goal.”

– Tom Thibodeau

For the Knicks, it’s back to the drawing board. For the second straight year, the season ends at the hands of the Pacers — a new generation of pain in a rivalry steeped in it. The progress was real, the highs were high, but when it mattered most, they couldn’t finish the job.

No miracle this time. Just heartbreak — again.