The Knicks ran over the Pacers in Tuesday’s pivotal game five, the ultimate payback for being ran out of the building in Indiana in Sunday’s Mother’s Day Massacre.
Not only did New York run away with a 30-point victory to take a 3-2 series lead, they bullied the Pacers on the glass despite going even smaller with their starting lineup, as Miles McBride got the start to lock in on Tyrese Haliburton in a shuffling of the deck by Tom Thibodeau.
The Knicks won the battle down low, and didn’t back down from any size disadvantage, even when Donte DiVincenzo stepped up to confront Myles Turner after the two exchanged bumps and shoves near the top of the key in the second half. Keith McPherson, watching before his show on Tuesday night, saw one team that was authentic in its display of toughness, and another that was trying to manufacture something that simply is not there.
“That fake tough guy, it doesn’t work, Myles Turner,” Keith said. “It doesn’t work, Isaiah Jackson. Where do you think you are? You’re in New York, in the middle of The Garden, surrounded by New Yorkers. Cut the tough guy stuff. They’re not going for it.”
DiVincenzo himself called out Turner and the Pacers for trying to show a toughness that they don’t have after the game, as the Knicks responded to critics who believed game four was evidence that the shorthanded group was finally out of gas. Not so fast, Keith says.
“All the pundits that still keep saying ‘[Tom Thibodeau] ran those guys into the ground,’ it’s so corny, man,” Keith said. “Hit refresh on your information. If you haven’t watched the Knicks, just say that.
“It’s a series. Every game of a series is different…the difference between Indiana and The Garden, it’s day and night.”