After four games, the Knicks have identified the problem that has them in a 3-1 hole to the Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference Finals: too many turnovers leading to confidence-boosting buckets and big deficits.
“We knew it was gonna be a fast game, and the priority was defensive transition to get set, but we hurt ourselves with our turnovers, putting them in the open floor,” Tom Thibodeau said after Tuesday’s 130-121 loss in Game 4.
“It’s tough to win against a team like that, who turn those turnovers into points,” Josh Hart said. “I had like four or five, just bad, stupid turnovers that you can’t have that lead to easy baskets that lead to momentum.”
New York’s full tab for the night: 17 turnovers (five by Hart) leading to 20 points for Indiana. The series total after 197 minutes of play: 60 turnovers.
“You turn it over against them, particularly the live-ball turnovers, you’re fueling the transition game,” Thibodeau said, hinting at his team’s sloppiness fueling the hosts to 22 fastbreak points.
“We scored 120 points, that’s plenty of points,” he added later. “But the defense wasn’t good enough. The rebounding wasn’t good enough, but the defense and our turnovers probably hurt us."
Jalen Brunson, who had three turnovers to his name, said a lot of them were self-inflicted.
“As a team we just need to tighten the screws when it comes to that,” he said. “Just being aggressive, if they were aggressive turnovers, they’d be different, but passive turnovers is not us.”
"I think I had three of them, just bad turnovers," Mikal Bridges said. "A team that plays that fast, you can't give them transition looks like that."
The problems were evident early as Tyrese Haliburton poured in 15 points in the first quarter and Pascal Siakam had 11, giving Indiana a 43-35 advantage. Haliburton would go on to tally a triple-double with 32 points, 15 assists, and 12 rebounds.
“He got off to a good start, and it’s hard when great players get confidence early, it’s hard to slow them down,” Thibodeau said of the Pacers’ guard. “So I thought the urgency to start the game and giving up the transition baskets, that hurts you because that gives players confidence, and then your job becomes much more difficult.”
“Didn’t get enough stops, they came with energy and physicality, set the tone for the game,” Brunson, who led the Knicks with 31 points, but was a minus-16 in 37 minutes, said.