Indianapolis - Ask any basketball coach to explain to you a few minutes after the heated game, what exactly happened and why, and they might tell you that they aren't sure until they go back to the movie. Before that, all they could do was provide a broad summary. (Also, spoiler alert: even after they watch the movie, they won't tell you What they saw. )

That's it, when shortly after Sunday's final buzzer, Rick Carlisle was on the podium in the interview room and asked a question and asked a question why his Indiana Pacers scored just 42 points in the second half, while the 106-100 second half, the New York Knicks enjoyed the 2025 match in the 2025 match in the 2025 match of the New York Knicks, the initial announcement of a match that was the first to be part of the race.

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"Well, they have a lot of better defenders in the second half," Carlisle said. "It makes it even harder."

Of course not said: The Knicks don't have one of them Worse The defender is there often. The man in the 11th place, he went all out for the second straight season, and that concession Pacer was a cowboy who could try to aim as long as they got the ball.

"When the team hunts me...I mean, that's the truth," Jalen Brunson said in a supply in media in New York on Monday. "Obviously, I have to put in my own efforts. I have to give everything. I just have to be smarter and not foul, and I think if I just put my body in the right position and in the game, foul or not foul - or not foul - or not (because the referee) think foul as a foul, I'll make my team better win."

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With his back against the wall, down 2-0 and heading on the road, Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau not only shuffled his starting five — in went Mitchell Robinson, out went Josh Hart — but also reached deep into his benchmark, finding guards Landry Shamet (who'd played a total of 31 minutes in this postseason prior to Sunday) and Delon Wright (who'd logged just 3 1/2) at the back of the cupboard. In a way, the referee's whistle forced Thibodeau's hand: Brunson and Miles McBride both encountered multiple early fouls, and the Knicks needed more backcourt options, especially in this series' backup point guard Cameron Payne, which was largely ineffective.

But, in a way, Thibs had with those guards (including McBride, once he got back to the game in the second half) - because they were exactly what they needed to give New York: bigger sizes, better communication ("early, loud, continuous conversations," Shamet called it tighter spins in the locker room, and hit two games in a stronger defensive spin and a stronger defense to the point where it could be passed by two times.

"They didn't get any games," the Knicks said Monday. "We're getting them to have and shoot every time they have it and just make them feel uncomfortable. ... I think (switching and rotating) every game is getting better and better. Pacers, they play very fast, so it's hard to go on a lot of things at times, but I think communication is getting better and better." It's getting better and better. ”

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Brunson dropped 13 points when he fouled four free throws and was out in the third quarter with a 1:39 mark. When Brunson checked out at 8:48, they caught a third, thanks to the explosive start of the last quarter of Carl-Anthony Town and For excellent defensive efforts. Just a minute and 45 seconds later, Brunson picked up his fifth guarding Andrew Nembhard in transition, sending him back to the benchmark and bringing McBride back in … at which point the Knicks resumed grinding the Pacers down, with the quintet of Towns, McBride, Hart, Anunoby and Mikal Bridges holding the Pacers to 3-for-10 shooting over the next 5 1/2 minutes before Brunson

Thibodeau left Brunson on the bench in a game where he had to win a game, succumbing to some eyebrows even with five fouls. He later said that Brunson's long absence was partly due to a lack of feeling about how the referee called the game, and given how much Brunson meant he needed, he wouldn't risk taking a foul, which was a feeling of confirmation when Brunson backed and hit the game quickly.

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"Time and score, you know?" Thibodeau said after the third game. "Just trying to get it clear to you that you feel like, 'Well, what do we need in the game right now?' And the group is well-paced, so we probably have a little longer than usual."

However, some of it boils down to the simple fact: the Knicks need to stop. Brunson is easier to get from the floor.

The state-of-the-art indicator PEG Brunson (6-foot-1, 6-foot-4-foot-1, lacking the feeling of elite footsteps or screen navigation) is a lower-average defender. Some, such as estimated additions, bring him closer or existthe bottom of the league.

Throughout the regular season, the Knicks allowed 8.1 points per 100 rounds on the court than the downside. In the playoffs, it's as high as 17.9 points per 100 points. Oppose Indiana? A shout 25.9:100as Carlisle and Tyrese Haliburton on the field repeatedly sought Brunson to emphasize his defensive weaknesses in a bid to alleviate his overwhelming offensive strengths.

According to Synergy Sports Tracking, the Knicks made the Pacers score 27 points in 23 games in three games, while Brunson guarded the shooting handle, which was 1.174 points per game, which would be close to the league's lowest point throughout the season. That number doesn't tell the myriad trips of Carlisle, Halliburton and the company, and hopes to attack Brunson in other ways: by exploiting him as a low-slung man, he won't cause too many threats on the drive. By running early resistance screens in the transition to the Knicks' hedge and regaining strategy and seeing what lanes might open after initial coverage; through multiple screens, the property forced him to navigate again and again with the aim of leaving him bankrupt and behind the game, allowing one pacemaker to pop up freely and force other Knicks to cover him up.

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From there, Indiana's offense can turn into a game of gas-Moore: Knock one, the other pops up, and you end up taking the ball out of the basket.

Hart said on Sunday's shot before Game 3 at the Knicks, "I think it's zoomed in now, especially for a team like this, they're making you mistakes. There are any mistakes."

when two The domino falls and the chaos becomes more complicated - Still, one of the main reasons why the Knicks struggled in the minutes shared by Brunson and Town is:

In the regular season, Brunson and Town averaged 25.7 minutes per game. This has reached 27.5 throughout the playoffs. However, in Game 3: only 19.

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Thibodeau was primarily stuck with foul issues: a success in the successful Indiana Challage, hitting the bench at the end of the first half, the third foul that turned the town and a Haliburton town into an All-Star big shot, with Brunson defeating the Whistle for the second time in three games.

"The problem is, you want to know what the look you want to rotate, and then the game keeps evolving," Thibodeau said in media availability on Monday. "Then, there are variables that come with it, whether it's a foul trouble or a bunch of people go, maybe something else is needed. So, you always prioritize winning. Put the team first. But, most of the time, these guys end up together. They play together for a lot of minutes, and we get close to that."

The town struggled to contribute to Thibodeau's decision when the Pacers hunted him in Game 2, leaving him on the bench for most of the fourth quarter and wielding his game for most of the game 3, inserting Robinson into isolating Robinson even if the town is not in town and ensuring New York keeps paint protection in New York. However, in the fourth quarter of Game 3, the town has largely owned its own game, maintained its calm, performed coverage, and did not bear the malfunction that Indiana could exploit.

It's time, maybe in Game 4 Tuesday, Brunson must also stand up. Sometimes he has the ability to do it - primarily against Boston in the second round, and he fights and holds himself when switching to larger wings like Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. Expect the Pacers to show renewed intentions and aggressiveness in the event that he is forcing him to prove he can show renewed intentions and aggression towards them, especially after feeling that they often get New York off the hook in Game 3.

"No, it's terrible," Carlisle said of Indiana's second-half offense during the media supply at the Pacers practice facility on Monday. "I mean, it has to be better. I won't go into detail about it, but it's not very good."

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Pacers for a man, the second half was attributed to their second half - 14-point shooting with 3-point shooting percentage of 2-12, with turnovers and assists (8) and zero The fourth quick breakout point - generally stagnated their offensive approach. On the one hand, hunting Brunson more intentionally might create more collapses that open up swing pass sequences to generate open shots and inject some pace and life into Indiana’s attacks.

But, on the other hand, the mismatch of repeated isolated attacks on Brunson could further undermine some changes in Indiana's offense - the Pacers' passes against New York each game were 60 fewer passes than in the first two rounds, even adding to the overall slowdown.

“I think if we try to have too many confrontations, our offense might stagnate – I think that’s kind of (in Game 3). “We just have to be who we are offense and defensively, be stronger on both ends and go out and run. Because the hunting of the game will stagnate us a little.”

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As the Pacers try to reach the right balance for their offense, the Knicks will try to strike their offense: how much tends to minimize Brunson’s risk, but trust their offensive leaders to trust how much trust they have and rely on on the other side of the court. New York's point guard knows another massive test is coming. Now, he and his teammates must equal the challenge.

"I mean, it's competition. It's the playoffs," Brunson said Monday. "In order to go through something special, you have to go through a lot of adversity. If we are going to do that, you have to have a lot of queries psychologically and internally. When you go through something similar, it can build or violate the team, and I obviously think we (what we did in Game 3) will definitely help us."