Good morninga bits and pieces.
NEW YORK -- One game after the New York Knicks blew a historic playoff lead with three minutes to go and lost, they had a chance to make some magic of their own Friday.
...
But ultimately there wasn't enough magic for the Knicks.
Yes, the "Knicks" are magic-less.
The Knicks had no answer for Indiana's Pascal Siakam...
When you have no answer for Pascal Siakam, you need to ask a different question.
For the second game in a row, the Pacers were particularly effective when Karl-Anthony Towns was defending. They shot 50% from outside (9-for-18) when Towns was on the court compared with 33.3% (4-for-12) when he was off it.
For the series, Indiana is shooting almost 48% (21-of-44) from deep with Towns on and just 30% (7-for-23) with him on the bench. Towns took an extended seat on the bench as New York made up ground without him Friday night.
Seemingly whenever the Knicks turned up the pressure by sending a second defender at Tyrese Haliburton or T.J. McConnell, Indiana made them pay by finding someone open on the backside. And those looks were often 3-pointers, particularly to begin the fourth period.
This point made by others on social media last night in criticism of Tom Thibodeau.
...The Knicks' starting five...struggled for the second straight game, getting outscored by 13 points after being outscored by 16 in Game 1.
