Game 5 Pacers 88 Knicks 79
INDIANAPOLIS – Unless they perform a miracle across the next few days, the Knicks will have all summer to agonize over last night’s second quarter from hell, when all their championship dreams came tumbling down amid the ear-splitting roar of Conseco Fieldhouse.
It was a second quarter of complete futility, during which they missed 14 of 16 shots, scored just eight points and saw their incredible 18-point bulge dwindle into a two-point halftime deficit, 42-40.
It was the second-worst second quarter in NBA playoff history – behind only the Jazz’ seven points this May 3. It also was the Knicks’ worst playoff quarter altogether since they scored just nine points in a period 17 years ago.
And the Knicks, battered to the bone with injuries, picked the worst time to collapse after putting together a first quarter for the playoff ages that had them smelling Jack Nicholson’s after-shave.
But those first 12 minutes, in which the Knicks built a 15-point lead and looked like they’d be headed for L.A. next week, turned into one of the franchise’s all-time teases. The Pacers carried their 25-8 second-quarter domination into the second half and won Game 5, 88-79, to go up 3-2 in this best-of-seven Eastern Conference Final.
“Basically after the first quarter, we didn’t play,” said Larry Johnson.
On this giddy Pacer night, Johnson’s “Big L” salute was mocked by Indiana point guard Mark Jackson, who used his arms to make a religious cross salute after every basket, flashing the Knicks’ bench. It was another indignity on this heart-wrenching night.
Jackson (11 points) and fellow point guard Travis Best (24) combined for 35 points.
“I think mentally we just kind of let down and our emotion, our passion and our desire wasn’t the same,” said Allan Houston, the lone Knick who came up big, collecting 25 points.
“When we’re playing down we play urgent. But when we got down in the second half, it’s like there was a hangover from them coming back and we never picked ourselves back up.”
Patrick Ewing returned to the lineup after a two-game absence but Johnson was added to the bulky injury report, with yet-another foot problem – plantar fasciaitis. Johnson played hurt, as did Ewing, Marcus Camby (bruised knee) and Latrell Sprewell (broken foot). All four likely would have been sidelined if this were a regular-season game.
But it was anything but. It was their season. Now the Knicks must win two straight versus the Pacers to get back to The Finals – tomorrow at the Garden in Game 6 and then again Sunday in a Game 7 at Conseco, where the Knicks have never won, now 0-for-5.
“We have to stay positive and keep on believing,” said Ewing, who had a vibrant first quarter after deciding during pregame warm-ups he could play on his tendinitis-wracked right foot.
When asked if these injuries might be too much to overcome, Ewing said defiantly, “Ask me that after the season’s over. After we win a championship.”
Ewing finished with 13 points – nine in that blazing first quarter – on 5-of-10 shooting, saying afterward he felt “limited” offensively.
“I didn’t reinjure it, and that’s a positive,” Ewing said.
The larger concern is Sprewell, unable to participate in shoot-around and finished with just 10 points on 4-of-14 shooting, the fracture in the bone by his little toe not getting any better.
In the fourth, Houston got the Knicks within 76-70 with a left-corner 15-foot jumper with 4:11 left. But Indiana’s Sam Perkins answered with a three from the left corner to jack the lead to 79-70 with 3:48 left and Best put the finishing touches with another 3-point bomb from the right side with Charlie Ward lunging in his face. The basket gave the Pacers a 82-71 lead with 2:33 remaining.
“I believe [the Knicks can win here],” Sprewell said. “We haven’t but we only have to win one here. We have to get it done at home first of all. We need one more good game at home then it’s all or nothing.”
After Houston drained a pull-up 3-pointer from straight away to give the Knicks a 18-point lead, 37-19, with 10:42 left in the second, the bottom dropped out – perhaps on the season – in that second quarter.
After Houston’s three, the Knicks scored just three points the rest of the period and the Pacers closed them out on a devastating 23-3 run to take a 42-40 lead at halftime.
During the second quarter, the Knicks went eight straight possessions without a score while they got murdered on the offensive glass. The Knicks were burned on the offensive boards, 10-3, as Indiana rang up 15 second-chance points to the Knicks’ four.
During one grisly sequence, Dale Davis pulled down two offensive boards on one possession, leading to a third-chance 3-pointer from the left wing by Best that rattled in to bring the Pacers within 40-37 with 1:05 remaining.
The first quarter was a Knick masterpiece. They hit 12 of 19 shots and made all five free throws to build a 32-17 lead before a stunned crowd that booed the Pacers.
“We have time to recover mentally,” Houston said. “Our focus is to play one great home game. In Game 7, anything can happen. It’s who wants it the most.”