Karl-Anthony Towns scored 20 of his 24 points in the fourth quarter as the New York Knicks overcame a 20-point deficit to earn a critical 106-100 win over the Indiana Pacers in Sunday's Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals. (More Sports News)
The Knicks outscored Indiana by a 36-20 margin in the fourth quarter to close the gap in the best-of-seven series after the Pacers won Games 1 and 2 in New York. Towns led the comeback by going 6 of 9 from the field and amassing eight of his 15 rebounds in the final period.
New York, the East's No. 3 seed, also received 23 points from Jalen Brunson and 16 from OG Anunoby.
The fourth-seeded Pacers appeared on their way to a fifth straight win of this year's post-season after shooting 51.3 per cent in the first half, but were just 5 of 19 from the field in the fourth quarter as their big lead slipped away.
Tyrese Haliburton led Indiana with 20 points and Myles Turner added 19, but the Knicks were able to hold Pascal Siakam to 17 points after the standout forward put up 39 in the Pacers' 114-109 road win in Game 2.
Indiana will attempt to bounce back when it again plays at home in Game 4, which will take place Tuesday.
The Pacers seemed well in control when holding a 78-63 lead with three minutes left in the third quarter, but the Knicks closed out the period on a 7-2 run and carried that momentum into the pivotal fourth quarter.
New York then started the final period on a 17-5 surge that Towns was nearly single-handedly responsible for. The All-Star forward had 15 of those points, with the last three coming when he was fouled on a dunk and made the ensuing free throw with 8:02 left to give the Knicks an 87-85 edge.
The game was knotted at 98-98 after Siakam hit two free throws with 1:37 remaining, but the Pacers didn't make a basket the rest of the way and couldn't recover after Brunson hit a tie-breaking floater on the following possession.
Indiana proceeded to miss its next four field goal tries, and the Knicks sealed the outcome by going 6 of 6 from the free-throw line inside the final 30 seconds.
The Pacers held a slim lead early in the second quarter before outscoring New York by a 23-5 count over a seven-minute stretch. Haliburton's dunk off a Knicks' turnover capped the run and extended Indiana's advantage to 55-35, and the Pacers ultimately went into half-time still up comfortably at 58-45.
