The injury bug kept biting the New York Knicks but they pulled off the win. Coach Tom Thibodeau had to make a lot of in-game adjustments after Jalen Brunson and OG Anunoby went down. Now, they are up two games to nothing against the Indiana Pacers led by Tyrese Haliburton. It was not the prettiest NBA Playoffs win, even Charles Barkley acknowledges that this squad should be doing better.

When a squad notches an NBA Playoffs victory, analysts are usually elated with the way they are executing. The Knicks are the exception to the rule. Charles Barkley posits that he does not like the Jalen Brunson and Tom Thibodeau-led team, via NBA on TNT.

“I don't care who wins. But, I will tell you, I would love to see their a** stomped by the Celtics. That would be great. Whoever wins this series is going to get stomped by the Celtics. Because you're New York and you all deserve it. You think you're the greatest thing since sliced bread. Come on, you ain't that good in New York. Y'all overrated. Just because you make good pizza and good bagels?” the former Most Valuable Player said.

The Knicks may be too much for Charles Barkley but they surely carried themselves well in this game. They were down by 10 after halftime and it looked like their rotation was going thin, What did Coach Tom Thibodeau do? He employed schemes while his players executed them flawlessly to score 36 points in the third quarter. The most beautiful part of this victory was that they limited the Tyrese Haliburton-led Pacers to just 18 points in those 12 minutes after the half.

There may be a lot of individuals who do not like the Knicks, including Charles Barkley. But, their undeniable resilience amid big leads and injured players is insane.

Knicks come back to mollywhop the Pacers

May 8, 2024; New York, New York, USA; New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson (11) celebrates in the fourth quarter after scoring against the Indiana Pacers during game two of the second round for the 2024 NBA playoffs at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-USA TODAY Sports
© Wendell Cruz-USA TODAY Sports

When Jalen Brunson went down, it looked like this NBA Playoffs series was going to take a swing in momentum. Coach Tom Thibodeau did not allow that to happen. Then, OG Anunoby was the next player to head out towards the locker room. That also was not an excuse for them to give a mediocre performance at home. This very high standard led them to dominate their opponents quite well.

The Knicks knocked down 57% of all their shots from the three levels of scoring to win 130 to 121. More impressively, they also did well in attacking the perimeter. This netted them an insane 46.7% three-point percentage too. The other aspect that the Knicks dominated was the glass. They had 44 total rebounds with 32 of them coming from the defensive end. It was a great display of closing out possessions and making the Pacers pay for not executing well on offense.

Any time that the Tyrese Haliburton-led squad tried to create momentum to get back into the game, their ball handlers were hounded. The Knicks stole the ball five times in this NBA Playoffs matchup while also generating three blocks. Will they be able to keep this up?