Haliburton inspires Indiana as the magic disappears for the New York Knicks

Karl-Anthony Towns conceded the New York Knicks “didn’t have the magic” to produce another escape act as their hopes of advancing to the NBA Finals suffered a major blow in Indianapolis.

The Knicks went down 130-121 to the Indiana Pacers at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Game 4 and now trail 3-1 in the best-of-seven series.

the bench was active as we took a commanding 3-1 lead over the Knicks ️ pic.twitter.com/k5Y9f4GN6P

— Indiana Pacers (@Pacers) May 28, 2025

Towns and his team-mates have made a habit of stirring comebacks during their playoff run and it seemed another Houdini act was on the cards when they pulled within six points in the final quarter before the Pacers ran away with it.

“In true fashion to our whole playoff run, we put ourselves in a deficit, got ourselves out of the deficit, and then usually we feel good about us going into a close game in the fourth quarter and showing our resilience. But you get burned if you put yourself in that position too many times,” Towns said. 

“We think coming into the fourth quarter that we’re going to find that one trick again. We just didn’t have that magic tonight.”

Haliburton dominates Knicks

Tyrese Haliburton was key to the Pacers’ display, scoring 32 points and adding 15 assists and 12 rebounds without committing a turnover.

“It’s pretty remarkable, but this has become his thing,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. “There will be a new statistical category, perhaps, named after him somewhere down the line.

“Him and Chris Paul, these guys, there aren’t a lot of guys. I know [John] Stockton didn’t turn it over much back when he played,, LeBron James didn’t turn it over very much. You can go right down the line, some of the all-time greats. And so I know he takes great pride in it and that’s a motivating factor.”

Game 5 is in New York tomorrow night.