The Knicks reestablished control of the series in a victory that was both dominant and chippy.
Jalen Brunson rediscovered his stardom and, apparently, the health in his right foot.
He utterly outdueled a house-mouse quiet Tyrese Haliburton in Tuesday’s Game 5 121-91 victory, dropping 44 points for a 3-2 series lead.
A win Friday in Indianapolis will send the Knicks to their first conference finals since 2000, and they could also land there with a win in Sunday’s Game 7 at MSG (if necessary).
They’ve already captured more playoff victories this year (7) than any of the previous 23 Knicks seasons.
And Tuesday was a surprising cakewalk that finished with Garden chants of “Knicks in six.”
The shorthanded Knicks reversed the blowout from two days prior owning the rebounding battle, 53-29. They led for the final 39 minutes and by as many as 31.
Part of the breeze was because of an adjustment from Tom Thibodeau, who pushed Miles McBride to the starting lineup to replace Precious Achiuwa.
The results couldn’t have been better.
McBride not only scored 17 points, he pressed Haliburton on defense and held the Pacers All-Star to 13 points and five assists on just nine shots.
Haliburton wanted no part of MSG after dominating his home games.
Brunson, meanwhile, was back to his All-Star self.
If there were any ill effects of the sore foot that hindered him since Game 2, it was difficult to identify.
He had 28 points by the break as the Knicks created more ball movement and certainly more possessions. He capped another brilliant postseason performance with a reverse and-1 layup in the fourth quarter to give the Knicks a 20-point lead.
Brunson became the seventh player in NBA history with at least five 40-point games in a single postseason, joining an upper-crust list with LeBron James, Michael Jordan, Allen Iverson, Bernard King, Hakeem Olajuwon and Shaquille O’Neal.
New York finished with 20 offensive rebounds, including 12 from Isaiah Hartenstein.
The Knicks center grabbed 17 boards overall. Josh Hart avenged his Game 4 dud with 18 points and 11 rebounds in 39 minutes. Alec Burks continued his resurgence with 18 points off the bench.
The game turned chippy twice with plays involving Donte DiVincenzo.
In the second quarter, Isaiah Jackson threw a shoulder into DiVincenzo while trying to set a screen, which resulted in an offensive foul and Hartenstein running up to confront the Pacers player.
Jackson yelled in Hartenstein’s face, and the Knicks center responded by pushing it away with the back of his hand. Burks also got involved.
For that sequence, the final tally from referee Scott Foster was two technicals on the Knicks (Hartenstein and Burks), one for the Pacers (Jackson).
In the third quarter, Myles Turner and DiVincenzo got tangled up on another screen from the Pacers.
It finished with high tensions, profane shouting as the two players were separated and offsetting technicals.