Pascal Siakam, Pacers End Knicks' Season

The checkered flag came down upon the New York Knicks' season in Indianapolis on Saturday night.

The Indiana Pacers bid farewell to their Manhattan rivals in the sixth game of the Eastern Conference Finals, downing the Knicks by a 125-108 final at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. With a 4-2 win in the best-of-seven set, Indiana advances to its second NBA Finals and its first since 2000, which also downed the Knicks in the conference final round.

Pascal Siakam capped off an MVP campaign with a 31-point showing, which stood just ahead of a 21-point, 13-assist double-double from Tyrese Haliburton. The Pacers now face the Oklahoma City Thunder in the NBA Finals, with that championship series getting underway on Thursday night (8:30 p.m. ET, ABC).

For the eliminated Knicks, OG Anunoby earned a team-best 24 points on 10-of-18 from the field while Karl-Anthony Towns had a 22-point, 14-rebound double-double. Jalen Brunson was held to 19 points in defeat and was charged with five turnovers to match the losses of Mikal Bridges.

Thus ends the most successful season the Knicks have had, at least through postseason success, since the aforementioned 2000 campaign. New York's Finals appearance and Larry O'Brien Trophy hoist droughts were respectively extended to 26 and 52 years, the latter standing as the fifth-longest active denial in the NBA. The Knicks were also felled by the Pacers in the for the second consecutive season and dropped to 3-6 in the all-time postseason series.

Neither team led by more than six in a rough-and-tumble first half, one that saw the Knicks outrebound the Pacers by 10 while Anunoby hit six of his first nine from the field. Ominous precursors to the Knicks' dire fate, however, no doubt festered, such as a poor 3-of-11 effort from three-point range and 10 turnovers that yielded 16 Indiana points.

The Pacers wasted little time officially transferring momentum to their side, bookending a 9-0 run at the onset of the third period with varying forms of Siakam triples. One from deep got things rolling before he went to the line for an and-one on a Bridges foul and the Knicks never got any closer than seven from there on out.

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