Indiana Pacers head coach Mike Brown praised his team’s execution despite a tense finish at Madison Square Garden. “I thought Jalen down the stretch had some pretty good looks. He got to the spots that he normally gets to and he just came up short. But we got the ball where we needed to get the ball and we got the looks that we wanted,” Brown said.
Brown addressed Karl-Anthony Towns fouling out in overtime, calling it an unfortunate but inadvertent play. “It looked like he might have had his foot out and the guy just tripped over his foot… it wasn’t anything that we were gonna try to fight,” he explained.
On Indiana’s defensive struggles from three-point range, Brown highlighted physicality and rotations as key factors. “A couple of times we stopped short… we want our guys to feel us. On the backside a couple of times, we didn’t execute our rotations when it came to stopping the dribble penetration and then getting out the shoes,” he said.
Brown emphasized the balance of crediting Indiana’s fast-paced offense while recognizing defensive lapses. “It was a combination of both… they played fast, got in and out of their pick and rolls, and because they played fast, we weren’t able to be as physical with them,” he said.
Pascal Siakam led the Pacers with 30 points, while Andrew Nembhard added 24 points and 10 assists in the 137-134 victory. Eight Indiana players scored in double figures, and the bench outscored New York’s 43-18.
Jalen Brunson recorded 40 points, eight assists, and five rebounds for the Knicks, and Josh Hart tallied a triple-double with 15 points, 11 rebounds, and 11 assists. Towns had 22 points and 14 rebounds before fouling out with 2:14 left in overtime.
Brown addressed the Knicks’ late-game surge in regulation. “One of our big things was, hey, we got to make sure that we went to transition… they have us on our heels because we’re hesitating with the shooter,” he said, noting that improved communication and physicality are priorities moving forward.
Despite the road win, Brown remained focused on growth. “We just have to get better with our physicality first and our communication second. If we do, when we close out, it’s a physical closeout as opposed to closing out the airspace and letting them shoot,” he said.
The Pacers improve to 14-40 and aim to continue momentum against Brooklyn on Wednesday, while the Knicks fall to 34-21 and will face Philadelphia in their next matchup.
