The Indiana Pacers backup point guard, who stands just 5-foot-11, made up for his lack of size with speed. Then once he got open, hitting shots was easy.

"We just had to fight and give it everything we had," said Best, who repeatedly sliced through or shot over the New York defense for a playoff career-high 24 points in an 88-79 victory Wednesday night in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals.

"We were fighting hard all year and we didn't want to give it up this way," Best said. "We didn't want to go down 3-2 and have to go to New York. So we just came out and fought and we got the lead and that's all that happened."

The Pacers trailed by 18 points early in the second quarter. First Jalen Rose and then Mark Jackson brought Indiana back. Finally Best, who had 15 points in the final quarter, put the Knicks away.

"I just tried to be aggressive. I didn't think they could check me," Best said. "I felt good. In a game that's so important, I wanted to be aggressive and put up some shots and things went well.

"It's a great feeling to be one game away from going to the championship. We're in a good position right now and we want to take advantage of it. We want to close the series out."

Game 6 will be in New York on Friday.

The Pacers, in the conference finals for the fifth time in seven years, have never been to the NBA Finals. After New York took a 32-17 lead, even the home fans were booing the Pacers.

New York's biggest lead was 37-19 before a basket by Rose started a 23-3 run, and two free throws by Best with six seconds to go put Indiana ahead 42-40 at the half.

The Pacers never trailed after that.

"We didn't want to panic. They jumped on us real good and we had to respond," said Rose, who backed Best with 18 points. "That's why you've got to stay in there. You can't worry about the emotions of going up and down. Especially the last two quarters, we really wanted it."

Travis Best had a tongue-wagging kind of night in Game 5.(AP)

Reggie Miller, who had 16 points, gave the bulk of the credit to Best.

"He was the one that got us into the bonus in the fourth quarter because of his penetrating," Miller said. "He got into the seams and was making point-blank layups."

Coach Larry Bird said he was a little worried in the first quarter, although he never panicked because the effort was there.

"I kept telling them if they play the same way we'll come back. Our defense was excellent," Bird said. "We just played hard ... then Travis came in and gave us a lift. He can't see the floor as well because of his size when he has big players coming at him, so he just has to use his quickness to break down the defense and make something happen."

Best was 7-for-11 from the field -- 2-for-3 on 3-pointers -- and was 8-of-10 from the free throw line as the Knicks repeatedly fouled him.

"He's a very good one-on-one player, and he's a very good pick-and-roll player," Knicks coach Jeff Van Gundy said. "We didn't handle him in either situation as we needed to in order to keep him under control."