INDIANAPOLIS — If ever realistic opportunity presented itself for the Knicks after halftime Tuesday night, it came relatively early in the third quarter. At 7:17, with the Knicks gaining something resembling momentum, Indiana’s behemoth in the middle, Roy Hibbert, picked up his fourth foul and earned a seat on the bench.
Pacers fans groaned. They remembered Game 2 in New York. Hibbert sat for 75 seconds late in the third quarter and the game turned. How could the Pacers survive for 7:17?
Start with lots of George Hill, who did his best work of the night in that crucial third quarter stretch.
“I tell George all the time, he’s just as good as any point guard in this playoff run right now,” Pacers All-Star Paul George said. “He plays at that level, we’ve got a chance to go far.”
Well, the Pacers are going as far as New York at least, holding a 3-1 Eastern Conference semifinals lead on the Knicks after a 93-82 thumping in Game 4. Hill led all scorers with 26 points, three off his career playoff high.
“He was spectacular,” Pacers coach Frank Vogel raved, “maybe the best game I ever saw him play.”
Hill, who attended the same Indiana high school as Knicks coach Mike Woodson and played for Knicks aide Bill Smith, hit big shots all game, but perhaps his biggest was a 3-pointer jammed against the end of the shot clock at 2:12 of the third to push the Pacers up 16.
“I was just trying to be aggressive, taking what the defense gives me and knowing that’s an explosive offensive team and we have to make them work on the defensive end as well,” Hill said. “Just trying to take what the team gives me and try to do the best I can to put some points on the board.”
So he took what he was given — and then didn’t give much in return.
“George was just great. He took what was given to him, he didn’t force things he was shooting and luckily he was hitting,” said Hibbert, who also raved about the job done by his understudy Ian Mahinmi (four rebounds, two blocks in the third quarter). “When you’ve got a team that wants to play both ends, things are great.”
Well, things are a lot better for the Pacers than they are for the Knicks. And Hill, who shot 9-of-14 (2-of-6 on 3-pointers) and added four assists, was a big reason why, especially with his shots late in the shot clock.
“That’s what it’s all about, it’s fun, shots like that,” Hill said. “It’s what you kind of dream about. Shot clock going down, shots you practiced everyday in your driveway.”
And made in the playoffs.