It is win-or-go-home for the New York Knicks when they welcome the Indiana Pacers to Madison Square Garden for Game Five of the Eastern Conference finals.
The away side, meanwhile, head into Friday's matchup one win away from reaching their first NBA finals in two and a half decades and will be keen to complete the job as soon as possible.
Match preview
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After getting themselves back in contention with a crunch victory in Game Three, the New York Knicks are back in a precarious situation off the back of a 130-121 defeat on Wednesday, which saw them fall to a 3-1 deficit in the series.
Tom Thibodeau's men could have hardly picked a worse time to give up their most first-quarter points in this season's playoffs (43), although they managed to keep the contest alive heading into the interval.
However, another poor start to a quarter in the third left them with an 11-point gap to make up heading into the final 12 minutes, and the team from New York were unable to replicate their late comeback heroics from Game Three.
Despite having all but one of their five starters scoring at least 17 points and combining for a whopping 94, the Knicks were usurped by a lethal Pacers offensive engine in a near wire-to-wire victory.
The Knicks will now attempt to overturn a 3-1 deficit for only the 14th time in NBA playoff history, highlighting the difficulty of the task in front of them, but Friday's hosts will need to take it one match at a time.
Having lost both of their opening two clashes on home court against the visitors, the Knicks know they simply cannot afford another defeat here and will need to rise to the occasion to force a sixth game in Indianapolis.
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The Pacers delivered yet another statement of intent to take a 3-1 lead and put themselves in the driving seat to emerge Eastern Conference champions for the first time since the Reggie Miller-led class of 2000.
Rick Carlisle's men came out firing at the start of both halves, winning the first and third quarters by a combined margin of 14 points, which proved to be the foundation for a well-deserved victory in New York.
With his father in attendance for the first time since the final game of the Pacers' first-round victory over the Milwaukee Bucks, Tyrese Haliburton delivered arguably his best playoff performance so far with 32 points, 12 rebounds and 15 assists, becoming the first player with a 30/10/15 postseason game on zero turnovers.
While Haliburton was undoubtedly the star of the show, Pascal Siakam also came up clutch with 30 points and five rebounds and currently sits third in franchise history for 30/5 playoff games behind Miller and Paul George.
On an otherwise perfect night for the Pacers, the only point of improvement going forward will be their work on the offensive glass, having been out-rebounded by eight last time out, leading to several second-chance points conceded.
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Team News
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Knicks guard Josh Hart could be recalled to the starting lineup for this one after grabbing a 12-point, 11-rebound double-double in his second straight game out of the first five on Wednesday.
Precious Achiuwa made his comeback in the aforementioned game, meaning that the home side have no injury concerns for Friday's must-win encounter.
Bennedict Mathurin bounced back from a rough patch to record a second 20-point playoff game of his career and give the Pacers some much-needed offensive splurge off the bench.
Haliburton and Siakam notched a combined 62 points for the Pacers en route to victory last time out and will be aiming to deliver the goods once again.
New York Knicks possible starting five:
Brunson, Hart; Bridges, Anunoby; Towns
Indiana Pacers possible starting five:
Haliburton, Nembhard; Nesmith, Siakam; Turner
We say: Knicks to win by 9+ points
With elimination staring them in the face, we are expecting the Knicks to come out roaring and secure a commanding win to live to fight another day.
Adepoju Marvellous
