Indiana struggled from the foul line all game. Jalen Brunson notched his playoff-leading eighth 30-point performance.
The Knicks even trimmed the Pacers’ 10-point cushion to a one-possession game with 14.2 seconds remaining.
Still, none of it mattered. Indiana leaned on a monster outing from Pascal Siakam and now heads home up 2-0, halfway to a shot at an elusive NBA title.
But the road only gets tougher from here as far as Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle is concerned.
“You cannot assume going home is going to be easier — it never is,” Carlisle insisted in the aftermath of another Indiana win in New York in Game 2 of their Eastern Conference Finals series.
[ALSO READ: Pascal Siakam drops playoff career-high 39, Pacers silence Knicks anew for 2-0 ECF lead]
For the first time since 2000, the Pacers have taken a 2-0 lead in a Conference Finals — coincidentally against the same Knicks team they faced that year en route to the NBA Finals.
However, that series saw Indiana drop Games 3 and 4 at home before bouncing back to win the final two matchups, including a Game 6 clincher in New York.
“Each game as you ascend in the playoff series becomes harder. So we’re going to concentrate on our process,” Carlisle added.
Siakam, who recorded his career playoff-high in scoring, couldn't agree more: “We have a long way to go and it’s only going to get tougher for us.”
Indiana needed every bit of Pascal Siakam’s 39-point explosion to fend off a late Knicks rally and secure their sixth straight playoff win.
A 2019 champion with the Toronto Raptors, the 31-year-old set the tone early and rattled off 11 straight points for the Pacers, ending up with 16 already in the first 12 minutes of play.
“It was a special game. In the first half he was the guy that got us going and got us through some difficult stretches,” Carlisle commented on his All-Star forward.
Overall, the former Most Improved player shot 15-for-23 from the field, hit three triples and grabbed rebounds in just 33 minutes of play.
“He’s a veteran who’s been in these situations multiple times. He understands the importance of patience and being disciplined,” Carlisle added.
It marked the seventh-highest scoring performance in Pacers postseason history — and it couldn’t have come at a better time.
“It was a special game. In the first half he was the guy that got us going and got us through some difficult stretches,” Carlisle commented on his All-Star forward.
A 2019 champion with the Toronto Raptors, the 31-year-old set the tone early and rattled off 11 straight points for the Pacers, ending up with 16 already by end of the first frame.
Tyrese Haliburton, who hit the triple that sent the game to overtime in a thrilling Game 1 comeback, sang praise to his teammate.
"That's why we brought [Siakam] here... we just kept feeding him... making big shot after big shot," said Haliburton, who finished with a 14-point, 11-assists double-double.
Besides Siakam and Haliburton, four other players in Myles Turner (16), Aaron Nesmith (12), Andrew Nembhard (12), and T.J. McConnell (10) reached double-digit scoring for the Pacers.
“We have different weapons and we’re not consumed on who’s going to do what. We just go into the game and whatever it presents us, that’s just how we’re going take it and do it our way,” Siakam noted.
Indiana now guns for a commanding 3-0 lead when the series continues on Monday (PH time), May 26 for Game 4.
