The second round of the 2024 NBA playoffs continued on Friday night as the New York Knicks visited the Indiana Pacers for Game 3 of their second-round series at the Gainbridge Fieldhouse. The Knicks entered having won the first two games of the series, but left the night having lost, 111-106. It was a crazy scoring night for Donte DiVincenzo, who dropped 35, including 7-of-11 from 3-point land, but it simply wasn't enough. Indiana took the lead on an Andrew Nembhard stepback 3-pointer and New York had no answer on the other end.
It stands to reason that the Pacers are happy to be back in Indianapolis where they have now won nine straight games. Tyrese Haliburton led the Pacers with 35 points to help Indiana secure its first win. That win ensures that the Pacers have not dropped three straight games since Feb. 2.
Pacers 111, Knicks 106 (NYK leads series 2-1)
CBS Sports provided live updates, analysis and highlights throughout the game. Follow along below.
Here are some key takeaways from the game:
Nembhard plays hero
This was not Nembhard's best night. He was taken off the Jalen Brunson assignment on the defensive end and could not get his own offense going. As the final seconds of the fourth quarter arrived, he was 1-of-7 from the field and had the same amount of points as rebounds: two.
When the ball found him at the end of the shot clock with the score tied at 106-106 and 20 seconds remaining, however, he had no time to think about his poor performance. All he could do was get a shot off as quickly as possible, and so he stepped back to create some space and flung the ball to the rim from 30 feet.
Cash.
The shot ended up being the game-winner, as the Pacers hung on for a crucial win to trim the series deficit to 2-1.
Nesmith bothers Brunson
On the Pacers' first defensive possession of Game 3, Aaron Nesmith picked up Jalen Brunson instead of Nembhard. Twenty seconds later, after chasing him around multiple screens, he forced the Knicks star into a tough step-back 3-pointer that did not go down.
Thus began the most frustrating night of the series for Brunson, who finished with 26 points, but needed as many shots to get there. He shot 10-of-26 from the field, which was his least efficient outing since Game 2 of the first round, and turned the ball over five times.
Nesmith was extremely physical with Brunson, but everyone has taken that approach in the playoffs. The big difference with this matchup is that Nesmith is 6-foot-6 with a 6-foot-10 wingspan, and that length was very difficult for Brunson to deal with.
It will be interesting to see if the Pacers keep Nesmith on Brunson the rest of the series, and if so, how Brunson adjusts.
Knicks waste DiVincenzo's career game
With OG Anunoby joining Julius Randle, Bojan Bogdanovic and Mitchell Robinson on the injured list for Game 3, the Knicks needed someone to step up and provide some offense to supplement Brunson. DiVincenzo did just that.
The sixth-year guard was unconscious in this game, hitting 3-pointer after 3-pointer en route to a playoff career-high 35 points. This was just the eighth time all season that DiVincenzo has scored 30 points, and the fourth-highest scoring game of his career. His seven 3s also tied a Knicks franchise playoff record.
DiVincenzo has been excellent in the playoffs, but this was his best full performance. If the Knicks don't end up winning this series, they're going to look back on wasting the "Donte DiVincenzo game" with regret.
