Knicks Have Silver Lining Going Into Game 2

Not all is lost for the New York Knicks going into Game 2 against the Indiana Pacers.

New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson controls the ball against Indiana Pacers forward Aaron Nesmith. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images | Brad Penner-Imagn Images

The New York Knicks may be down 1-0 to the Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference Finals, but that doesn't mean they played poorly.

Sure, the crushing blow of losing a game when holding a 17-point lead late in the fourth quarter hurts, but the fact that the Pacers had to come back from that large of a deficit in order to simply force overtime could be a positive sign for the Knicks.

"If you need a silver lining from Game 1, New York was the better basketball team for the bulk of the contest," The Athletic insider James Edwards III wrote.

"Indiana’s pace didn’t seem to bother the Knicks too much until the end, when the team’s collective head was spinning. Indiana couldn’t stop [Jalen] Brunson (43 points) and [Karl-Anthony] Towns (35 points) from scoring until the game was on the line. New York was going to have to dominate the glass to win this series, and it did that until the Pacers smelled blood in the water."

The Knicks are the better team on paper. The Pacers have Tyrese Haliburton, but they still needed Aaron Nesmith to put on a career banger just to have them in the game at the end. Indiana needed everything to go right in order for them to win the game, and it worked in their favor.

This means the Knicks will have to win one of the three games in Indianapolis in order to have a shot at winning the series, but the primary focus for now should be Game 2 at home inside Madison Square Garden.

A win there will help the Knicks inch closer back into the series and put some pressure on the Pacers to keep their efforts up.

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