CNN
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Pascalciacam exploded 39 points as the Indiana Pacers defeated the New York Knicks 114-109 on Friday night to start a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference Finals.
Three All-Star playoff career high points added in total. Miles Turner scored 16 points.
With six consecutive wins on Pacer’s road, they remained in command position before returning to Indiana for Game 3, requiring two wins to reach the second NBA Finals. They lost to the Los Angeles Lakers in 2000 in six games.
However, Siakam insisted that he and his teammates were not distracted by the prospect of writing their name in franchise history.
“We’re focusing on ourselves, guys,” said the Cameroonian, who was an NBA champion with the Toronto Raptors in 2019.
“We’ve come a long way, it’s just going to be tougher for us. We have to stick to our plans. We’re worried about one game.
On a night when no other pacers had a basket of five or more, Indiana had to resort to the 31-year-old.
“It’s a special game. In the first half he was the guy who moved us and we got through some tough stretches,” said Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle.
“It’s hard to score that number of points in a game like this. There he’s always got a physical matchup defensively. And the guy crashes in the basket and flies. But he did an incredible job.”
The game wasn’t even tighter at the end of the third quarter. The team was tied up at 81. The Pacers ran 13-4 for control in fourth, keeping the Knicks arm-length for the majority of the rest of the game.
However, after Siakam went 110-100, New York with 2:45 left – driven by Jalen Brunson, who had 36 points and 11 assists in the night – went 9-0 runs within 1 point with 14 seconds left.
It looked like the Knicks might turn the script upside down after the Pacers mounted an incredible comeback in Game 1 on Wednesday night.
However, two free throws from each of Aaron Nesmith and Turner, on both sides of Branson’s missed attempt, sealed Indiana’s victory.
Knicks has everything to do. The conference final history team has never lost their first two games at home and won a series per AP.
Indiana’s dramatic sports day will see Game 3 take place on Sunday night hours after the Indy 500.