The Knicks, in an entirely different neighborhood now versus Indiana, still found their way home to the victory

With the eyes of the NBA world on the New York Knicks and Indiana Pacers commencing their second-round series last night, an axiom took center stage at the World’s Most Famous. “The more things change, the more they stay the same” was never truer than in the Knicks’ 121-117 Game 1 win.

The opponent this round could not be more different than last. The 76ers were a hierarchy, a binary star system where everything orbits around one or the other. The egalitarian Pacers are more a constellation, a group of bright points who combine to create an effect greater than their sum of their shine. Philadelphia was a big, physical team that defended the halfcourt like it’s their job, which it is, really. At times Indiana’s halfcourt defense felt like a regular-season outfit; the seeming absence of intensity and four-lane highways of driving space were glaring from the get-go. But Rick Carlisle is no dummy – the Pacers gave the Knicks fits applying themselves a little differently, most notably in pressuring inbounds and bringing the ball up the floor. The Pacers enjoyed a 22-9 edge in points off of turnovers. Inbounding was a little bit of an issue last postseason for New York, one Tom Thibodeau and Co. will surely address before tomorrow’s Game 2.

Every game last series, five or six 76ers made multiple baskets. Nine Pacers did last night. The number of significance there might not even be the 46-3 advantage Indiana enjoyed in bench points, but the fact that they played four reserves for 72 minutes versus three Knick subs combining for 27. The trouble with wars of attrition is the losing side often doesn’t realize their position until it’s too late. With Precious Achiuwa only playing four minutes, essentially seven Knicks bested nine Pacers. Can that math stretch and endure over two weeks?

On the other hand, continuing a trend from late last series, the Knick starters won their matchup handily, 118-71. Jalen Brunson hit all the right notes again in netting 43, with Josh Hart and Donte DiVincenzo combining for 50 on only 30 shots — such is the vitality of the Villanovans one suspects if Ryan Arcidiacono were still here he’d have flirted with a triple-double. Another 48 minutes for a restless Hart, who continues to play a half-foot bigger than his size; no Embiid made his presence even more outsized, to the tune of 24/13/8. DiVincenzo followed his Philly Game 6 renaissance with another burst of brilliance, including the game-winning trey in the final minute. In five Knick playoff wins this year, Hart and DDV have hit game- or series-clinching shots in four. 

I’m not saying more about Brunson only because I don’t know what else to say about Brunson at this point. Not very exciting stuff from a sportswriter, I’ll grant you. The man is a metronome of mastery. At one point in the fourth he jumped late in the shot clock and tried to force a pass to the corner, where the at-home defender easily stole it. The next time down the floor you could literally see the auto-correct in real-time, with Brunson finishing a quick and deliberate move with a fallaway jumper. When intellect meets indomitability, Brunson happens.

Also staying the same, blessedly, is one Ogugua Anunoby. The traditional boxscore numbers may not have leapt off the page for OG – 13 points on 5-of-14 shooting doesn’t get posted with pride on anyone’s refrigerator. But he tied for the team-high with his +12 rating. You could see his brain and approach to defending Pascal Siakam evolve as the game went on, including a sequence with three minutes left where Anunoby stole a Tyrese Haliburton pass, tiptoed along the sideline while saving the ball, went fullcourt for a semi-contested slam, then raced back to force Siakam into a miss on the other end. What a match-up between those two. It wasn’t his first big steal off Haliburton on the night, and hopefully won’t be the last this series.

Now comes the adjustments, from each side. Andrew Nembhard and Aaron Nesmith, the primary defenders on Brunson, combined for more fouls than field goals and a -29 between them. Carlisle will come up with something to try and change that. Haliburton is not himself between hamstring and back problems, but still: 36 minutes and only two baskets made is not gonna cut it. This was a tight game that went down to the final seconds and could’ve gone either way, i.e. every game the Knicks have played since the season finale against Chicago. The Pacers did a far better job on the glass than the Sixers ever did, particularly their defensive boards; the offensive rebounds were a wash (8-7, NY). The officiating was about what it’s been all season, meaning the losing team gets a pointless L2M report to keep them warm tonight as their fans conjure conspiracy theories.

There’s a rich playoff history between these two franchises – if you weren’t aware, TNT was happy to bludgeon you over the head with reminders. The Knicks and Pacers playing for high stakes in the spring in late-and-close contests is same as it ever was. If this series is anything like its predecessors, enjoy the relative calm of a 1-0 lead now, because something we cannot imagine – a 25-point quarter; eight points in nine seconds; a miracle 4-point play; a vertiginous display of verticality at a vital moment – will come out of nowhere and turn everything on its head. We got a preview of this last night, at the end of the first half: after leading by seven late in the first, the Knicks appeared to go into the locker room down nine after a Haliburton stepback three. That’s when Isaiah Hartenstein stepped into the magic and gave us our first hint of WTF, to the delight of the Garden crowd and Mike Breen in particular – patron saint of “Try a buzzer-beating heave, for God’s sake!”   

 Two more weeks of this, folks!