(Photo : (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images)) NEW YORK, NEW YORK – MAY 14: Miles McBride #2 of the New York Knicks dribbles throughout Game Five of the Eastern Conference Second Round Playoffs towards the Indiana Pacers at Madison Square Garden on May 14, 2024 in New York City. The Knicks received 121-91. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or utilizing this {photograph}, User is consenting to the phrases and circumstances of the Getty Images License Agreement.
The New York Knicks will play the Indiana Pacers in an epic Game 6 conflict tonight at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indiana.
For the Knicks, they may look to shut the sequence out in six video games towards the chippy Pacers, clinching their spot within the Eastern Conference Finals, the place the Boston Celtics await.
It can be the primary time the Knicks have made the Conference Finals since 2000.
Meanwhile, the Pacers will look to duplicate their historic Game 4 efficiency, one the place they pulled away with a 121-89 victory at residence, hoping to take the sequence to a deciding recreation seven.
Here are the X-Factors on each groups that would swing the sequence to its finish or to a Game 7 showdown.
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Knicks: Miles McBride
With OG Anunoby out and Jalen Brunson enduring a foot harm, the Knicks wanted to search out an additional spark on offense, and Miles McBride did simply that.
In Game 5, Tom Thibodeau turned to Miles McBride. Sliding him into the beginning lineup, McBride didn’t disappoint, scoring 17 factors for the Knicks.
McBride has proven up for the Knicks once they wanted him most all through the playoffs, and his Game 5 efficiency was no totally different.
Knicks: Jalen Brunson
(Photo : Sarah Stier/Getty Images)
In what might need been probably the most essential recreation of his profession, Jalen Brunson dropped 44 factors towards the Pacers in Game 5, taking a commanding 3-2 sequence lead on the Garden.
Brunson hit a number of massive time pictures, giving New York the sting. Now, if the Knicks need to shut out, Jalen Brunson wants to duplicate his 44-point Game-5 efficiency.
Pacers: Andrew Nembhard
Andrew Nembhard’s protection has been a distinction maker for the Indiana Pacers all through this sequence.
So far, the second-year professional out of Gonzaga has managed to be a thorn in Brunson’s facet, making the All-Star level guard work for all his factors.
He performs nicely off of Tyrese Haliburton, giving Indiana some further flooring spacing on offense whereas holding his personal towards different star guards.
Pacers: Tyrese Haliburton
It’s secure to imagine the All-Star level guard has discovered his recreation within the second spherical of the playoffs.
After a downward spiral in the course of the common season and a weak first spherical efficiency, Tyrese Haliburton has turned his mess around on this sequence towards the Knicks.
Despite a poor effort in Game 5, Haliburton should bounce again and faucet into his Game 3 self for the Pacers, the place he dropped 35 factors, 7 assists, and 4 rebounds within the Indiana win.
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