Tyrese Haliburton scored 35 points and Andrew Nembhard emerged as an unlikely hero Friday as the Indiana Pacers grabbed a gritty 111-106 victory over the New York Knicks to claw back in their NBA Eastern Conference semi-final series.
The shot clock was running down when Nembhard drained a three-pointer to put the Pacers ahead 109-106 with 17.8 seconds left to play.
It was just his second basket of the night, but it turned the tide for good in a physical, back-and-forth battle in which the Pacers surrendered an early 12-point lead but finally held on to cut their deficit in the best-of-seven series to 2-1 after dropping the first two games in New York.
The move to Indianapolis — and the determination to avoid falling into an 0-3 hole — clearly energized the Pacers, who kept the banged-up Knicks in check early.
Haliburton had six of the Pacers’ 12 three-pointers. Pascal Siakam scored 26 points and Myles Turner added 21 and 10 rebounds for Indiana.
The Knicks, already missing Julius Randle, Mitchell Robinson and Bojan Bogdanovic, were also without OG Anunoby after he suffered a hamstring strain in their game two victory.
Knicks star Jalen Brunson, who wasn’t confirmed to start until after pre-game warm-ups after hurting his right foot on Wednesday, got off to a slow start, but New York briefly pulled ahead in the second quarter — foreshadowing a third-quarter surge that saw them take a 90-85 lead into the final period.
Donte DiVincenzo led the Knicks scoring with 35 points, connecting on seven of 11 from three-point range.
Brunson finished with 26 points and six assists, hitting a game-tying three-pointer with 42.4 seconds left, but the Knicks couldn’t hang on and the Pacers will try to level the series at home on Sunday.
Friday’s other game saw the Minnesota Timberwolves trying to push the defending champion Denver Nuggets to the brink as they hosted game three of their Western Conference semi-final.
Minnesota, who dominated the Nuggets in winning the first two games in Denver, were bolstered by the return of Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert, who missed game two because of the birth of his first child.
