The Knicks ran out of gas, and their season came to a crushing end.
Falling behind big early, the Knicks’ comeback attempts were futile and their season came to an end Sunday in a 130-109 Game 7 loss to the Pacers at the Garden in the second round of the playoffs.
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The Knicks, who entered the playoffs as the No. 2 seed in the East, could not handle Indiana in front of a star-studded crowd which included Spike Lee, Ben Stiller, John McEnroe, Travis Scott and Jon Stewart.
And to top it all off, after the myriad injuries they already suffered, Jalen Brunson fractured his left hand in the second half to end his afternoon.
The Knicks trailed by 15 at halftime after the Pacers shot an unfathomable 76.3 percent from the field over the opening 24 minutes.
The Knicks crawled back a bit in the third but the Pacers counter-punched and would never relinquish their lead.
This marks the second straight year the Knicks were eliminated in the second round of the NBA playoffs.
They have not made it to a conference final since 2000.
The Pacers’ Tyrese Haliburton also rubbed salt into the wound of Knicks fans.
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The ESPN cameras caught Haliburton, who signed a five-year, $AUD304 million contract in April, yelling and pointing at the fans as he walked towards the Pacers’ bench after the Knicks called a time-out with 2:03 left in the first quarter and the Pacers leading 34-22.
“You like that s***,” he appeared to say to the fans.
Haliburton was seen talking trash to a fan after he hit a 3-pointer and was walking back up the court with 3:57 left in the first quarter.
With a minute left on the clock, Haliburton hit another trey for his 14th point of the quarter and he could be seen pointing once again to the fans.
Haliburton was Indiana’s top scorer with 26 points while Pascal Siakam and Andrew Nembhard contributed 20 points each.
This story originally appeared on the New York Post and has been reposted with permission