Knicks choke away lead in final minutes as Pacers take Game 1

Karl-Anthony Towns and Jalen Brunson missed potential game-tying 3-pointers in the final seconds and the Knicks now trail in a postseason series for the first time this spring.

They scored the first four points of the extra session, but were outscored 13-6 the rest of the way.

It all began to go wrong when Brunson was blocked in transition, leading to an Andrew Nembhard 3-pointer that sliced the Knicks lead to one. 

Brunson had 43 points in defeat and Towns added 35.

Tyrese Haliburton scored 31 for the Pacers. Game 2 is Friday night back at the Garden. 

The Knicks blew a 17-point fourth-quarter lead, and a 14-point edge with 2:51 to go. Aaron Nesmith went wild, hitting five 3-pointers.

Towns and OG Anunoby missed killer free throws in the final 14.3 seconds.

It looked like the Pacers had won it, when Haliburton hit a 3-pointer that bounced off the back rim and dropped in.

Indiana celebrated like it was a game-winner, but Haliburton’s toe was on the line for a 2-pointer, sending the game to overtime. 

The opening minutes felt similar to the Celtics series, when the Knicks were almost always playing from behind.

The Pacers scored on their first eight offensive possessions, made their first nine shots and led by as many as seven in the early going. 

But while the Knicks weren’t getting stops in the opening quarter, neither were the Pacers. Mikal Bridges started fast, scoring eight points in the period, and the Knicks outscored Indiana 14-5 over the final 2:34 of the stanza. 

It was a seven-point lead for the Knicks at the break, despite allowing the Pacers to shoot 51.1 percent from the field. It was one of the better offensive halves of the playoffs, one in which Tom Thibodeau’s team stacked up 15 assists, shot 8-of-19 from 3-point range and had three players — Towns, Brunson and Bridges — combine for 45 points on 17-of-30 shooting.

They were plus-four on the glass and plus-12 in points in the paint, while limiting the Pacers’ stout transition games. 

The biggest surprise came in how the two benches performed. It was supposed to be a major Indiana advantage. That wasn’t the case in the first 24 minutes, Knicks reserves accounting for 13 points, only three fewer than the Pacers second unit.

Cam Payne hit a pair of 3-pointers in a 13-1 run — his first two 3s since the first game of the postseason — and Mitchell Robinson made his typical impact on the defensive end. 

Held to six points in the first half, Pascal Siakam kept the Pacers close with a six-point third quarter.

It was a shaky offensive period for the Knicks, who managed just 21 points, committed four turnovers and didn’t hit a single 3-pointer.

Their lead was only three entering the final 12 minutes.