Siakam's career night pushed the Knicks into a corner

The Knicks won by 2 points in the first quarter, 1 point in the second quarter, and 3 points in the third quarter, and the scores were exactly the same after the third quarter. In the end, the difference between the two sides was only 5 points. Judging from the score and the situation on the court, the Knicks and the Pacers are very close in strength, but after two games, the Pacers lead the Knicks 2-0 away.

Everyone knew that this was a game that the Knicks had to win, but Siakam scored 11 points in a row at the beginning, pouring cold water on the Knicks at the beginning. The distribution of Sika's 11 points comes from two back-to-back heads-up OG, fast-break heads-up Bridges, transition offense running without the ball to the basket, and running without the ball to three-point points.

Compared with Haliburton's "underestimated" this season, Siakam was more seriously underrated by fans after the Raptors took the helm, and when it comes to star forwards in the league, you won't immediately think of him.

In fact, Siakam is one of the best offensive forwards in the league in my opinion, and the mid-range has become his consistent killer move, shooting more than 38% from three-point range for two consecutive seasons since coming to the Pacers, and the transition offense is lightning fast.

In the first 33 points of the Pacers, Siakam scored 21 points alone, which suddenly reminded me of Siakam's real battle for fame, scoring 32 points in the first game of the 2019 Finals against Dream, and also a half-volley mid-range and transition offense after various turns.

He shot an astonishing 14-of-17 from the field that game, and when he had a good hand, he was almost unstoppable from mid-range. Siakam scored 39 points on 15-of-23 shooting and 3-of-5 three-pointers today, the highest score in the Pacers playoffs since Georgia and a new high in the playoffs for Siakam, but unfortunately 40 points short.

At one point, the Knicks were beaten to a 10-point deficit by Siakam's brilliant offense, and then Milo's arrival changed everything again, as he grabbed offensive rebounds almost as soon as he came on the court, adding to the Knicks' offensive tolerance.

The strategic significance of Miro's offensive rebounds is not just to increase the Knicks' offensive turnover, his rebounds can also effectively prevent the Pacers from switching offense. So after coming on the court in the first quarter, Miro played about 15 minutes in a row on the court, and the Knicks needed him to stay on the court too much.

Relying on Miro's influence, the Knicks won the Pacers in both the first and second quarters. In the face of Miro's difficulty, the Pacers did not scare like the Celtics, and Miro cut him as soon as he came on the court. Instead, they put on different rotation centers, with both Tob and Bradley taking turns trying.

On the offensive end, put out a space lineup, maximize the name of Miro, and consume Miro. Although Miro was also very good at switching defenses today, the Pacers are already trying to drain his energy. In the fourth quarter, he finally sacrificed the trick of cutting Miro, forcing Thibodeau to finally replace the panting Milo, and the Pacers grabbed two offensive rebounds as soon as Towns came on the court.

Miro played nearly 30 minutes today, a playoff high and the second-highest of the entire season. Downs, meanwhile, played just 27 minutes today and was DNP by Thibodeau for long periods of the fourth quarter. You can't say Downs doesn't play hard, but his defensive habits and rebounding ability are really limited and he can't get stuck in position.

At the same time, Downs couldn't respond strongly on the offensive end today, and Siakam's mistake caused a lot of interference for Downs. So it makes sense that Thibodeau didn't want Downs to play in the last quarter.

The Pacers are a team that plays this way, and you can't afford to be lucky again. The two 30+ players in the last game, Haliburton and Nesmith, only had 14 and 12 points respectively today. But Siakam stepped up to fill the void, who would have thought that so far in the playoffs, the Pacers have six of them have become single-game scoring champions, and the starting five also have Marceline on the bench.

It's a team that plays team basketball in the true sense of the word, without an absolute core like Brunson, but it seems like there are people who can burst out in every game. Siakam, who was killed from beginning to end, Turner, who scored 13 points in the fourth quarter, and the Knicks' defense was completely untargetable.

When Brunson, who got 36+11, scored 5 points in a row at the last moment to drag the game to a critical moment, the Pacers once again withstood Brunson's counterattack. In this year's playoffs, when it came to a critical moment, the Pacers' record was 7-0 and they didn't lose a single game. In addition to Haliburton's magical key shots, there was also the tactical execution of the whole team.

In playoff history, the series 2-0 leader has won the series 431 times and has been reversed 34 times. Interestingly, the last example of a reversal was the Knicks vs. the Pacers. In last year's playoffs, the Knicks led 2-0 and were eventually reversed by the Pacers.

In the history of the divisional finals, there have been 66 2-0 leads, and the leaders have reached the finals 60 times. The last time they were reversed was the 19-year-old Bucks, who led the Raptors 2-0 and were finally overturned four in a row. And the witnesses of that series, OG and Sika, are also in today's game.

In the playoffs, the Thunder are the team that puts defense first, while the Pacers are the team that comes first on offense, shooting first in shooting percentage, first in three-point shooting percentage, and first in fast-break shooting percentage. Now these two teams are about to meet in the finals, the strongest spear against the strongest shield.

If the Thunder and Pacers do meet in the Finals, George will inevitably be the backdrop again. These are his two former clubs, and the current leaders of both teams are also related to him. Alexander came from the Thunder-Clippers trade, and Haliburton was traded by the Pacers for Sa, who was traded by the Thunder and the Pacers.

There is no George in this year's playoffs, but his shadow is everywhere.