The Eastern Conference finals between the Indiana Pacers and New York Knicks has been many things. Above all else, it has been a battle of road warriors.
Headed into Tuesday night’s Game 4 showdown with the Pacers up 2-1, the home team is yet to have won a game in this series, with the Pacers taking the first two at Madison Square Garden and New York stealing Game 3 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
In fact, the Pacers and Knicks are tied for most road wins (six) in the NBA playoffs this year.
In order to avoid a 3-1 series deficit, which would give them improbable odds to extend their postseason run, the Knicks will have to — once again — tap into intensity and efficiency on the road.
Knicks’ road playoff success
What makes New York’s road success in the playoffs remarkable is how it has fought back from deficits to pull out games on the road; the Knicks have trailed in the fourth quarters in five of their six postseason road victories.
In three of those, the Knicks have trailed by 20 points, making them the only team since at least the 1997 playoffs to win three road games in which they needed to rally from that many points down.
“I think we’re just resilient,” forward OG Anunoby said Monday. “We don’t want to be down 20, but sometimes it’s just how it happens. We know it’s a game of runs, so I guess we just lock in and go on a run of our own.”
Overall, the Knicks are 6-1 on the road this postseason, tying a franchise record for most road victories in a single postseason. Aside from having to erase deficits on the road, the Knicks have also had to close out tight games with crisp execution; in those six road wins, their average margin of victory has been just 2.7 points.
So how, exactly, have the Knicks done it?
Their defensive effort and intensity has undoubtedly sharpened in those moments, but, after Sunday night’s victory in Game 3, numerous players like Anunoby, Jalen Brunson and forward Mikal Bridges cited increased communication as another element sparking these runs.
“It’s competition,” Brunson said Monday. “It’s the playoffs. In order to go through and do something special, you have to go through a lot of adversity, a lot of questioning mentally and internally if we’re going to do this. It can make or break teams when you’re going through things like that.
“I think obviously what we did (Sunday) definitely helps us. We saw we were on the brink of it looking pretty dark for us. The way we responded I think it brings us closer together.”
The only flip side of all this success on the road for New York is that it juxtaposes the team’s struggles at home; the Knicks are 3-5 at the Garden.
Pacers’ road playoff success
Not to be outdone, Indiana is also 6-1 on the road this postseason, though the Pacers haven’t had to claw back from deficits quite like New York. Still, comebacks have very much been a part of Indiana’s success on the road.
In Game 1 last Wednesday, the Pacers rode a 20-point fourth quarter from Aaron Nesmith and a Tyrese Haliburton miracle bounce on a score-tying shot to force overtime. The Pacers, though, were down by nine points with 55 seconds left.
For the most part, Indiana has relied on its speed and pace in transition to either get out to early leads in road games, or make late surges in fourth quarters. Similar to the blueprint the Knicks have used, however, it’s all about execution down the stretch.
“You get in an environment like this where there’s so much noise and so much going on and so many distractions if you allow yourself to be distracted,” Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle said Friday after Game 2. “We always talk about let the noise and all this other stuff be something to help trigger a narrowed focus — on your teammates, on your job within the team.”