The difference between Brunson and Haliburton

Good morning. The Knicks survive by ramping up the defense just enough to give Indiana some problems to close out Renoir Week in the newsletter. Let's basketball.

The most reliable unit in the 2025 NBA playoffs has been the Oklahoma City defense. The second most reliable unit has been the Indiana offense. Before Thursday's Game 5, won by the Knicks 111-94, the Pacers had just one awful offensive performance (Game 3 against Cleveland) and two bad offensive performances (Games 3 vs. Milwaukee and New York) in 14 playoff games. Meanwhile, they'd had eight awesome offensive performances (scoring at least 120 points per possession), including the other three games against the Knicks, whose defense has been inconsistent at best all season and through the playoffs.

Indiana just simply did not have it on offense on Thursday. It was their worst scoring output by raw numbers and efficiency ratings of the postseason. It was actually the first time the Pacers scored fewer than 100 points since February 4 and just the eighth time in 97 regular season and playoff games this year they scored less than a point per possession. This is all to say it was among the worst offensive performances of 2024-25 for Indiana, and it came against a relatively shaky defense the Pacers haven't had a ton of trouble exploiting, and it came in a close-out opportunity with a trip to the NBA Finals on the line.

That's kind of mind-boggling given how deadly and energetic the Pacers have been all postseason. They were 2-0 in close-out opportunities in the first two rounds. Game 5 against Milwaukee was that miracle comeback. Game 5 against Cleveland was a Tyrese Haliburton masterpiece, going toe-to-toe with Donovan Mitchell and winning. They just didn't have it in their Game 5 against the Knicks. New York's defense tried to force the ball away from Haliburton, and he obliged with just two shot attempts, five free throws and three assists in the first half. It was a little like Anthony Edwards' Game 4 against OKC: the star player let the defense dictate how big a role they would play instead of forcing the issue, and the co-stars couldn't help out nearly enough. Indiana's whole starting lineup went cold: only Pascal Siakam scored in double figures (15 points) and the five collectively went 3/13 from deep.