INDIANAPOLIS — Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and Tyrese Haliburton and the Pacers are now feeling the passion of the Knicks’ praise. (He’d probably prefer a nice note, or an Edible Arrangement, or something.)
For the first time in the 2025 Eastern Conference finals, New York took a page out of Indiana’s book in Game 5, applying defensive pressure on the opponent’s All-NBA ball-handler in the backcourt rather than allowing him to bring the ball up the floor unabated and get the Pacers into their offense:
The tactical adjustment by Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau didn’t shock Haliburton, who’s seen more than his fair share of 94-foot defensive affection from opposing defenses throughout his rise to stardom in Indiana — especially given the elevated stakes at which these two teams are playing, with a berth in the 2025 NBA Finals on the line.
“I mean, we’re up 3-1. Their season’s on the line,” Haliburton said after the Knicks’ 111-94 win in Game 5 to extend this series, forcing a Game 6 back at Gainbridge Fieldhouse at 8 p.m. ET on Saturday night. “So we understand they’re going to come out and play hard, increase their pressure, and do whatever they’ve got to do to win. They did a great job of that, and now it’s on us to respond in Game 6.”
How the Pacers — and Haliburton specifically — respond will likely determine whether Indiana clinches its first NBA Finals berth since 2000, or finds itself once again boarding a plane bound for New York to face Game 7 at Madison Square Garden come Monday.
Games 4 and 5 offered a pretty perfect snapshot of the yin and yang of Haliburton’s game. On one night, he’s flawless, overwhelming, all-consuming, suffusing every Pacer possession with electricity and efficiency. He injects the energy into the game, making monster waves and then surfing atop them as they crash over a helpless defense. And on the next, because of the unerring purity of his offensive approach — “You know, he’s a point guard by nature,” head coach Rick Carlisle said before Game 3, “a classic point guard by nature, a guy running a team” — Haliburton can find himself getting swept away with the tide.
“Yeah, rough night for me,” said Haliburton, who finished with just eight points (his second-fewest of the postseason, and his 13th single-digit game of the season) on just seven field goal attempts (just the fifth time all season he’s taken so few). “I gotta be better setting the tone, getting downhill. I feel like I didn’t do a good job of that.”
The numbers back up Haliburton’s self-assessment. After averaging nearly 11 drives to the basket per game during the regular season, more than 11 per game through the first two rounds of the playoffs, and 13 a game through the first four games against New York, he logged only nine in Game 5, leading to just two baskets, one drawn foul and zero assists.
“Sometimes, it was probably a combination of him missing some shots he normally makes,” Thibodeau said after the game. “But I thought our guys were tied together, trying to make him work for everything. That’s what you have to do. We have to fight to win every possession.”
A lot of the credit for Haliburton’s quieter performance belongs to Mikal Bridges. The Knicks swingman turned in his strongest defensive game of the series with precisely that kind of fight-to-win-every-possession approach, deploying both his length and seemingly limitless gas tank to shadow Haliburton the full length and width of the court with more physicality, intention and presence than he’d managed through the first four games.
“Mikal did a great job,” Knicks forward Josh Hart said. “We’re asking a lot from ’Kal. He’s picking him up, running around with him. Tyrese is someone who never really stops moving. He’ll bring the ball down, he’ll hit, he’ll run off of it, he’ll get the [ball] back, he’ll throw it back to the big, he’ll run back. ’Kal did a great job today trying to be physical, trying to be on his body and not give him anything easy.”
Combine that with more attentive positioning by big men Mitchell Robinson and Karl-Anthony Towns, loading into the gaps to stop the ball and prevent Haliburton from consistently touching the paint, and better communication behind the play by New York’s