Jalen Brunson Says Knicks Are 'Confident' but 'Know That Our Back's Against the Wall'
The New York Knicks are facing quite the uphill battle in the Eastern Conference Finals after losing the first two games to the Indiana Pacers at home, but Jalen Brunson isn't going down without a fight ahead of Sunday's Game 3 on the road.
"We're a confident group, regardless," he told reporters. "We just know that our back's against the wall. We've just got to go out there and go out swinging."
New York wouldn't be in this situation if it closed out what appeared to be a surefire win in Game 1.
It led 116-102 with fewer than four minutes remaining only to give up a 23-9 run to end regulation and lose in overtime. Aaron Nesmith drilled six three-pointers in the final five minutes of regulation to keep the Pacers within striking distance, and Tyrese Haliburton then played the role of hero with a buzzer beater that bounced high off the rim and through the net to force overtime.
Haliburton thought it was a winning three-pointer at the moment and unleashed Reggie Miller's famous choking celebration in Madison Square Garden, but replay showed his foot was on the line.
It didn't matter, as the Pacers won in overtime and made NBA history:
Game 2 was less dramatic, but Indiana was still the stronger team in the most important moments and outscored the Knicks by five in the fourth quarter of a five-point victory.
If there is a silver lining for Brunson and the Knicks, it is their performance on the road in the playoffs to this point. New York won all three contests away from home in its first-round series against the Detroit Pistons and then won two of the three on the road in the second round against the Boston Celtics.
The first round against the Pistons would have been far more problematic for the Knicks had they struggled in Detroit, as they lost two of the three games at home.
Indiana also won the first two games on the road against the Cleveland Cavaliers in the second round but lost Game 3 on its home floor. While the Pacers turned things around and won the series in five, the Knicks may be better positioned to take advantage of such a situation if they can steal one on the road in Sunday's matchup.
New York was the better team for most of Game 1 and for stretches of Game 2, so it's not as if it cannot compete with the Pacers. It will just need to be stronger with the outcome on the line in the fourth quarter if it wants to turn this series around and reach the NBA Finals.
