For 29 teams, the last game of the season ends in a loss. The deeper your team gets into the playoffs, the more it stings. You start to allow yourself to believe in the impossible, and then those hopes get crushed beneath the bouncing ball. In my years of writing at Posting & Toasting, this is the latest in the calendar I’ve ever had to cover a game. It’s been a challenging season for me personally, as my wife was diagnosed with cancer in late September. Since then, the Knicks have been a reliable distraction through the hardest times my family has faced. It’s been a long season. Intellectually, I know there should be gratitude—my team, your team, our team made it to the final four. ECF! Instead, the mind goes to all the missed opportunites. The collapse of Game One. The baffling inconsistencies. Yes, I suppose I allowed myself to fantasize a little bit about the Finals, and this team gave us reasons to believe them possible. My wife beat cancer, after all—New York could beat Indiana, right? Turns out, they couldn’t. Now I just feel gutted. How about you?
Congratulations to the Pacers for winning Game Six of the Eastern Conference Finals, 125-108.
The Knicks battled through full-court pressure and early sloppiness to stay within reach at halftime, trailing the Pacers 58–54. Despite dominating the boards and holding Haliburton scoreless early, New York’s turnovers and Indiana’s hot perimeter cost them. Then they played one of their all-too-familiar terrible third-quarters, losing the frame 34-23. New York started the fourth with a glimmer of hope, but more misses, more turnovers, and more big Pacers shots.
In a close-out game, the Knicks missed nine free throws, turned the ball over 18 points (costing them 34 points), and shot 28% from deep. In a close-out game. Phew. OG Anunoby was your top scorer (24 points), Karl-Anthony Towns had a 22-14 double-double, and Jalen Brunson scored 19 points and seven assists on 8-of-18 shooting.
For the victors, Pascal Siakam logged 31 points and three blocks on 10-of-18 from the field and 8-of-11 from the line. He received the ECF MVP Larry Bird trophy. Tyrese Haliburton scored 21 points after being blanked in the first quarter, and added 13 dimes, and OAKAAKUYOAK Obi Toppin scored 18 points off the bench.
Quoth Unmitigated Gall: “Bad try, bad effort. See y’all next season.”
First Half
The Knicks neutralized Tyrese Haliburton with merciless harassment. They maintained that strategy tonight—and the Hoosiers returned the favor, guarding Jalen Brunson for 90 feet. Undeterred, Brunson scored the first two buckets for New York, once again determined to set the tone.
New York attained a five-point lead, then the home team went up by five. Nerves, full-court defensive pressure, and pace resulted in early sloppiness, and six first-quarter turnovers cost New York seven points.
With three minutes remaining, Thibs sent in Miles McBride, Delon Wright, and Landry Shamet to accompany Josh Hart and Mitchell Robinson. Robinson played almost all 12 minutes of the first quarter, collecting six rebounds (five offensive), a steal, and a block in his service. Craziest of all: he had outscored Haliburton, 6-0.
Words can’t explain how good Mitchell Robinson has been in the 1st quarter for NYK, deep rolls, beast on the offensive glass and man handling everybody in the paint.
He’s changed this series pic.twitter.com/ry4KrQpbjd
— BKS Sports (@BKSecretsports) June 1, 2025
When the horn blew, New York trailed 25-24. They’d be in the lead if the Pacers hadn’t outshot them from deep 50% to 29%. The Knicks had out-rebounded the Hoosiers at a rate of about 2:1 and had benefited from five offensive rebounds that led to four second-chance points.
OG Anunoby made his first four shots and feasted on the second-string Hoosiers. New York tied the game early in the second period, but back-to-back threes (Haliburton, Toppin) in KAT’s face gave Indiana their greatest lead yet with under eight remaining. KAT responded with four straight points to clip some off the top, and when Mikal Bridges made his free throws at the five-minute mark, the score was tied at 41.
Indy made New York work hard to find open looks, but the latter slowed down their rate of turnovers (and when I wrote that, Nembhard picked Brunson’s pocket).
The Knicks would fall behind, labor to come close or tie, then fall behind again. We desperately waited for the Knicks to regain a lead and build upon it. Four points from Bridges and a Brunson floater brought them within one with one to go. Yet again, a shoddy close to the quarter resulted in six unanswered points, but an Anunoby buzzer-beater made intermission score, 58-54.
Through two quarters, the Pacers and Knicks were nearly identical from the field, 51% to 50% respectively. However, the Pacers sizzled from deep, hitting 8-of-15 (53%) compared to 3-of-11 (27%) for the Knicks. New York controlled the glass, doubling Indiana in rebounds (23 to 13), and led in paint points (28 to 24), but they’d given up 10 turnovers (costing them 16 points), a stark contrast to Indiana’s five giveaways.
For the villains, Pascal Siakam scored 16 and Haliburton scored eight in the second quarter. For the heroes, Anunoby had recorded 14 points, while Towns and Robinson had 14 boards between them.
Second Half
Siakam and Nesmith combined to score eight unanswered points to open the second half. During that ugly stretch, the Knicks missed multiple shots, got blocked twice, and Towns missed two freebies. Two minutes in, and they were down by 13. After a timeout, they chipped the difference to eight, but more steals, blocks, and three-pointers (Thomas Bryant, Nembhard) stretched the difference to 15 again. Of all the games for New York to blow a third quarter, as is their wont, this was very poorly timed.
After being benched earlier this series, Thomas Bryant has hit three 3s off the bench for the Pacers.
Indiana is seizing all the momentum right now in Game 6. pic.twitter.com/rgATmzKWH5
— Evan Sidery (@esidery) June 1, 2025
Out of a timeout, Anunoby nailed a corner trey, Bridges had a pick-six for two, and a defensive board converted to a Towns dunk on New York’s way to a 9-0 run.
With Indy scoring so well, every mistake by the Knicks mattered. With more missed free throws, more turnovers, and more missed shots, New York went down by 16. They had a fast break, and Deuce swished a three-pointer, but he had stepped out of bounds. In the next sequence, Obi Toppin hit a triple. Just like that, New York’s deficit went from possibly nine to fifteen. After three quarters, New York was on the wrong side of 92-77.
New York scored six unanswered through the first two minutes of the fourth. They got stops, but missed as many shots as they made—thereby missing a golden opportunity to gain significant ground. KAT and Anunoby missed more free throws. They were within 10 at the nine-minute mark, but it could easily have been five or seven. Nembhard hit a jumper, then got a pick-six, and the gap was 14 with eight-ish to go. It reached 16 with 6:38 left. It reached 19 with 4:20. It was 19 again with two minutes on the clock. Goodnight.
Up Next
We all go home. We lick our wounds. We prepare for next season. Thanks for a great season, Knickerbockers.
Box Score