The New York Knicks had been on their deathbed halfway by means of the second quarter in Sport 3 in opposition to the Indiana Pacers within the 2025 Japanese Convention Finals. The Pacers raced out to a 20-point lead on their residence ground whereas already holding a 2-0 collection lead from their dramatic wins in New York. No staff in NBA historical past has ever come again from a 3-0 deficit.
In some way, the Knicks dug deep and pulled out a win. New York defeated the Pacers, 106-100, to get the collection to 2-1 and provides themselves an opportunity to tie it up in Sport 4. It’s is the third 20+ level comeback of those playoffs for the Knicks after that they had beforehand erased large deficits in Sport 1 and Sport 2 of their second spherical collection in opposition to the Boston Celtics, and it offers their championship desires new life.
The Knicks can thank Karl-Anthony Cities for saving their season. After scoring solely 4 factors within the first three quarters, KAT exploded for 20 factors within the fourth quarter to provide a dire Knicks offense the enhance it wanted. That is the participant New York hoped for when it swung a daring commerce for Cities the day earlier than coaching camp opened, within the course of taking over his large contract averaging $55 million per season. Watch KAT’s Sport 3 highlights right here.
Cities’ electrical shot-making and uncommon capacity to place the ball on the ground and create his personal offense for a participant his measurement instantly stands out from rewatching his fourth quarter buckets. One thing else additionally stands out: for a lot of the ultimate quarter, Jalen Brunson wasn’t on the ground with him.
Brunson and Cities are the Knicks’ two finest gamers, a pair of offensive supernovas who can takeover a sport as scorers at a second’s discover. They’re additionally each unhealthy defenders, and the Knicks are studying that it’s exhausting to get sufficient stops to win with each of them enjoying collectively.
One of many massive storylines of this collection has been how poorly the Knicks’ beginning lineup is performing, at -20 for the convention finals and -41 general for the playoffs. The actual drawback with that lineup is it options Brunson and Cities collectively. Cities and Brunson are -20 of their minutes collectively within the convention finals, and -9 in 412 minutes collectively in these playoffs.
Take away one in every of them, and the Knicks immediately begin successful their minutes. With Brunson on and Cities off, the Knicks have a +9.17 net-rating within the playoffs. With Cities on and Brunson off, New York is +9.14 per 100 possessions, by way of PBP Stats. The Knicks enable a 119.47 defensive ranking (that’s factors allowed per 100 possessions) with Cities and Brunson on in the course of the playoffs. That quantity falls to 113.08 when Cities goes to the bench, and it falls to 98.2 when Brunson goes to the pine.
My favourite NBA all-in-one stat is EPM, or estimated plus-minus, by way of DunksAndThrees.com. That metric has Brunson rated as the perfect offensive participant within the playoffs at +4.8 general, whereas additionally being the worst defensive participant within the playoffs at -3.6.
Brunson, who was named 2025 NBA Clutch Participant of the 12 months, solely performed 2:46 within the fourth quarter of Sport 3. Cities was on the ground for 11:24 of the 12-minute interval.
Brunson had 4 fouls within the first half. Cities additionally ended the sport with 5 fouls. It’s exhausting to defend whenever you’re in foul hassle, however simply being in foul hassle within the first place is commonly an indication of shaky particular person protection. All the world is aware of Brunson and Cities are poor defensive gamers. The Knicks work lots higher when there’s just one participant for opposing groups to focus on, and the remainder of the lineup if crammed out by harder defenders.
Knicks followers are on it:
I feel we have to see much more Brunson/Cities staggering in sport 4 and past. I do not care what this says about their long-term future collectively. You must win 7 extra video games and retaining two unhealthy defenders off the ground as a lot as potential will assist.
— DJ Zullo (@DJAceNBA) Could 26, 2025
Thibs has received to stagger the Brunson/Cities minutes for the remainder of the collection
— Younger Uncle Phil (@ChiefIke) Could 26, 2025
Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau has caught a whole lot of criticism throughout this collection, however he additionally has a tricky job. Thibodeau’s two finest gamers are borderline unplayable collectively as a result of they’re each so unhealthy defensively. Thibodeau additionally doesn’t have a lot depth on this roster, so his choices for subbing one in every of them out are restricted. In Sport 3, Delon Wright performed 13 minutes and Landry Shamet performed 11 minutes after barely seeing the ground all collection. The Knicks had been determined in looking for solutions, and so they might need stumbled onto one which works even when it’s awkward for his or her future.
Cities and Brunson can’t play collectively … at the very least on this collection. It’s nonetheless potential they might survive in a unique matchup, however they had been -11 for the collection in opposition to Boston regardless of the Knicks’ six-game victory. The Knicks have new lease on life within the 2025 NBA Playoffs, however within the course of they’ve given themselves more durable inquiries to reply on methods to construct their roster sooner or later.
