Carmelo Anthony, Knicks stay alive vs. Pacers in Game 5

May 18, 2013 Sports

NEW YORK — Forward Paul George calmly dissected the Indiana Pacers’ shortcomings in their 85-75 loss to the New York Knicks in Game 5 on Thursday.
“At the free throw line, we just didn’t focus, point blank. We just weren’t locked in,” George said of Indiana’s horrid 19-for-33 game at the foul line.

Carmelo Anthony works off a pick from Tyson Chandler. Anthony Gruppuso, USA TODAY Sports.

Nineteen turnovers, including 13 in the second half and seven in the fourth quarter, added to the misery. “We had a couple of possessions we didn’t do a good job of taking care of the ball and getting guys the ball where they wanted,” George said.
Distilled to the core, basketball teams win by making shots no matter how impressive the opponent’s defence is.  The Knicks simply had not made enough shots in the past two games — losses to the disciplined, defensive-minded Pacers.
Facing elimination at Madison Square Garden, the Knicks made just enough shots and extended the series.
“You have to make shots, let’s be quite frank,” said Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony, who scored a game-high 28 points. “Making shots. At the end of the day, that is what it comes down to and having the will to win.”
It wasn’t pretty — like much of the series — but New York’s season isn’t over.
“Our defence has been great since we’ve been in the playoffs, and our offense has sputtered at times. We found the right offense when we needed it tonight,” Knicks coach Mike Woodson said.
“I was totally impressed because we met the challenge. As a coach, you come into games like this and you want to see who’s going to step up and make plays. I thought we did that. We were the better team in terms of doing that.”
Trailing 3-2 in the best-of-seven series, the Knicks are trying to become the ninth team to come back from a 3-1 deficit and advance. Game 6 is today in Indiana (8 p.m. ET, ESPN), and New York’s victory ensures the Eastern Conference finals will start Wednesday in Miami.
Anthony, who scored 15 points in the first half, had help from reserve guard J.R. Smith and reserve forward Chris Copeland who each added 13. Raymond Felton scored 12 points, and the Knicks took advantage of Indiana starting point guard George Hill’s absence. D.J. Augustin started in Hill’s place.
The Pacers declined to blame the loss on Hill’ absence, and in fact, Pacers coach Frank Vogel, Hibbert, George and forward David West, who had 17 points and 10 rebounds, all mentioned a variation of Chicago Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau’s next man up philosophy.
All-Star forward Paul George handled a majority of the offense with 23 points and six assists. But Vogel confessed before the game he really couldn’t ask George to do more with Hill out.