Pacers fend off Knicks, go home up 2-0 in East finals

Pascal Siakam scored a playoff career-best 39 points and the Indiana Pacers picked up their second straight road triumph in the series by outclassing the New York Knicks 114-109 on Friday night in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals.
Siakam made 15 of 23 field-goal attempts to set the tone for Indiana’s sixth consecutive playoff road victory. Myles Turner had 16 points and Tyrese Haliburton added 14 points, 11 assists and eight rebounds for the Pacers.
Jalen Brunson scored 36 points to set a Knicks postseason record of 19 30-point outings. He made five 3-pointers and added 11 assists.
Karl-Anthony Towns and Mikal Bridges each had 20 points and seven rebounds for New York.
Game 3 is Sunday night at Indianapolis.
The Knicks trailed by 10 before ripping off nine straight late points. Anunoby made two free throws and Brunson added five straight points to cut Indiana’s lead to 110-107 with 1:06 remaining. Josh Hart scored on a layup with 14.7 seconds left to bring New York within one.
Aaron Nesmith was fouled without any time coming off the clock and made both free throws to put the Pacers ahead by three. Brunson missed a long 3-pointer with just over eight seconds left before Turner made both free throws to give Indiana the final five-point margin with 4.2 seconds to go.
Ben Sheppard and Siakam knocked down consecutive 3-pointers to cap an 11-2 run as Indiana broke a tie and took a 94-85 advantage with 9:17 remaining in the game.
New York was within 103-99 before Haliburton drained a trey and Siakam made two free throws to give the Pacers a nine-point lead with 3:23 to play.
A short time later, Haliburton threaded a pass to a wide-open Siakam for a layup to make it 110-100 with 2:45 left. That hoop allowed Siakam to pass his previous playoff career high of 37 points.
The Pacers shot 51.8 percent from the field, including 13 of 30 from 3-point range. Aaron Nesmith and Andrew Nembhard had 12 points apiece and T.J. McConnell scored 10.
OG Anunoby added 16 points for New York, which made 47.6 percent of its shots and was 11 of 32 from behind the arc.
Siakam scored Indiana’s first 11 points and had 16 in the opening quarter but New York put together a 17-5 quarter-ending push to take a 26-24 edge.
New York led 52-49 at the break behind Brunson’s 17 points. Siakam had 23 in the half for the Pacers.
Siakam’s basket with 28.7 seconds left in the third quarter put Indiana ahead by two before Brunson tied the score at 81 on a short basket with 2.5 seconds remaining.