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The New York Knicks hosted an Eastern Conference Final game for the first time in 25 years. They earned their spot here, defeating the Detroit Pistons in the first-round and upsetting the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Semifinals. But the conference finals are a different beast altogether — and that was proven on Wednesday night when the Indiana Pacers made a frantic comeback to win Game 1 in overtime, 138-135.
The Knicks wasted incredible performances by a number of their players. Jalen Brunson scored 43 points. Karl-Anthony Towns had 35 points and 12 rebounds. And Mitchell Robinson grabbed eight rebounds, including four offensive rebounds that led to second chance points. Miles McBride and Mikal Bridges played well, too.
But at the end of the day, the Knicks blew a big opportunity to go up 1-0. New York led by as much as 17 points, and they had a double-digit lead with under three minutes to go in the game. The Knicks made a number of mistakes and unforced errors down the stretch—like allowing Aaron Nesmith to go 5-for-5 on 3-pointers with under three minutes remaining.
The referees also played a major role in the Knicks' loss. They overturned a seemingly concussive call after the Pacers challenged it, and they neglected to make calls that seemed obvious—including a missed goaltending and foul on Brunson on the same play in overtime that aggressively shifted the momentum.
Free throw shooting was the Knicks' biggest issue
But the real issue for the Knicks in Game 1 had to do with free throws. New York shot 70% from the free throw line through the entire game. If extrapolated for the entire season, that would rank dead last in the entire league. But wait, there's more.
New York actually shot well in overtime, mostly because Brunson shot —and made — all four free throws. But the Knicks made 24 of their 36 free throws in regulation, which is 67%. They didn't shoot any better in crunch time. The Knicks were 8-for-12 in the fourth quarter—which is also 67%.
Drill down even more, the Knicks—which, in this case was-Anthony Towns and OG Anunoby—were a combined two-for four on free throws in the final fourteen seconds with each going one-for-two. It is incredibly unfair to single out two free throws when assigning blame for loss in which a 17-point fourth quarter lead was blown. But when overtime is forced by a successful buzzer beater from the opposing team, it's hard to not focus on those types of errors.
Sure, the Knicks must work on stopping Indiana early in the game. The Pacers started the game out shooting 100% from the field for more than six minutes of action (9-for-9). They must take care of the ball. The Knicks turned the ball over 15 times last night versus Indiana's seven turnovers. And the Knicks must also figure out why they played so well with Brunson off the floor in Game 1; New York was a +11 without Brunson on the floor, which includes a 14-0 in the second half.
And there are things to replicate, as well. The Knicks won the rebounding battle 46-39. And while they missed far too many free throws, they won the battle of free throw attempts. New York shot 12 more free throws than Indiana, 40-28.
Game 1 was heartbreaking because of how well the Knicks played for more than 90% of it. And instead of going into Game 2 with a 1-0 lead, the Knicks must claw back to even the series.
Fortunately, the Knicks did a lot of things right in Game 1. They must focus on those things and correct their errors, beginning with making their free throws. If they do so, New York should be going back to Indiana tied 1-1.
