The New York Knicks have fought back to keep their title hopes alive, but the Indiana Pacers remain in the driver’s seat in the 2025 Eastern Conference Finals.

Beating Indiana 111-94 in Game 5, the Knicks narrowed their series deficit to 3-2 on Thursday night at Madison Square Garden.

Game 6 will be played at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Saturday, as the Pacers will get a second chance to close out the series and advance to their first NBA Finals since 2000.

New York led wire to wire in Game 5, boosting its 11-point halftime lead to as many as 22 points in the third quarter before holding on to its double-digit lead in the final frame.

The Knicks outshot the Pacers 49.4 to 40.5 percent overall, dominated the points in the paint margin 60-34, and won the rebounding battle 45-40. Indiana had an uncharacteristic 19 turnovers, while New York finished with 15.

Jalen Brunson led the Knicks with 32 points on 12-for-18 shooting, Karl-Anthony Towns added 24 points and 13 rebounds, and Mikal Bridges and Josh Hart scored 12 points apiece. Hart also pulled down 10 rebounds for a double-double.

Bennedict Mathurin paced the Pacers with 23 points on 6-for-10 shooting and a perfect 9-for-9 from the line, Pascal Siakam scored 15, and Obi Toppin added 11. All-NBA guard Tyrese Haliburton logged eight points (2-for-7 shooting) and six assists in the loss.

Indiana’s starters combined for just 37 points in the game, and the Pacers scored fewer than 100 points in a playoff game for the first time this postseason.

“We’ve been a resilient team all year,” Siakam said after the loss “I think we’ve shown so far that we can fight, we can bounce back. We’re playing against a really good team. We beat them at home, they came back on their home floor and they executed well, they played better than us.”

Behind 17 points from Towns and 14 from Brunson, while holding the Pacers to 37.5 percent shooting, the Knicks built a 56-45 halftime lead.

New York led 27-23 after the first quarter, sparked by 14 early points from Brunson.

Brunson made six of his first seven shots, including two 3-pointers, to lead a 13-4 run that put the Knicks ahead 25-15 with 3:38 left in the opening frame. Indiana then responded with an 8-2 run over the final 3:14 of the period, powered by 3-pointers from T.J. McConnell and Mathurin, to cut the deficit to four.

The Knicks held Indiana to 22 points on 38.1 percent shooting in the second quarter to push their lead to 11 at the break.

After a back-and-forth start to the second quarter, New York went on a 14-2 run — fueled by 3-pointers from Miles McBride and Landry Shamet and and-ones by Hart and Towns — to take a 48-34 lead with five minutes left in the half. The Pacers responded in the final 2:56 of the half with 3-pointers from Jarace Walker and Mathurin, and free throws from Haliburton and Siakam, but buckets from Towns and Bridges in the final minute gave the Knicks’ an 11-point lead at halftime.

The Knicks built a 90-73 lead heading into the fourth quarter, with Brunson scoring 16 points in the third, and the Pacers never recovered.

Brunson scored New York’s first eight points of the second half, and a Mitchell Robinson putback layup made it 66-50 with 8:49 left in the quarter. The Knicks soon pushed the lead to 20.

With six New York fouls midway through the quarter, Indiana went on a 12-2 run, as Mathurin made all six of his free throws, and Toppin added five points, to cut it to 74-64 with 4:09 left.

That Blue & Gold momentum didn’t last long, as New York answered with a 12-0 run, led by six points from Brunson, including a four-point play, to go up 86-64 with 2:12 left. The Knicks carried a 14-point lead into the fourth.

Indiana scored 11 points in the first four minutes of the fourth to cut its deficit to 12, but the Knicks responded with an 8-2 run to extend their lead to 102-86 with five minutes remaining.

The Pacers never got closer than 13 points of the lead the rest of the way.

The winner of the East will face the Western Conference champion Oklahoma City Thunder in the NBA Finals. OKC will have home-court advantage, with Game 1 set for Thursday, June 5.

Inside the Numbers

Indiana’s bench scored 57 points and the starters had 37.

Pascal Siakam (15 points) was the only Pacers starter to score in double figures.

Jarace Walker played 13 minutes in Game 5 in his first appearance in the Eastern Conference Finals. The second-year Pacer made two 3-pointers for six points and also had a block and a steal.

Indiana made 10 3-pointers and New York had eight.

The Knicks dished out 22 assists and the Paceres ifnished with 20 dimes.

Both teams were called for 22 fouls.

The Pacers went 24-for-29 on free throws and the Knicks made 15-of-22 attempts.