The Knicks' season is on life support. Do they have one more trick left?

INDIANAPOLIS All postseason long, the New York Knicks have pulled a rabbit out of a hat.

Theyve unveiled a card out of their sleeve.

Theyve removed a coin from behind their opponents ear.

New Yorks postseason run has been somewhat magical, erasing 20-point deficits multiple times, clawing back from down 14 time and time again and hitting clutch shots from city to city.

Advertisement If the Knicks want to keep their title dreams alive, though, theyll need their greatest magic trick yet.

After losing to the Indiana Pacers 130-121 on Tuesday night, New York faces a 3-1 series deficit in the Eastern Conference finals.

No team has come back from a 3-1 hole in the Eastern Conference finals since 1981.

In true fashion to our whole playoff run, we put ourselves in a deficit, we dug ourselves out of the deficit and usually we feel good about us going into a close game in the fourth quarter, showing that resilience, Karl-Anthony Towns said after the loss.

Ive said it to yall multiple times that youre going to get burned when you put yourselves in that position too many times and tonight is one of those nights where we got burned.

You think going into the fourth quarter were going to find that one trick to get us to the end of the game, and we just didnt have that magic tonight.

It didnt have to be this way.

Indiana was good but not unbeatable.

The Knicks did themselves no favor.

The team, which spent most of the season taking care of the basketball, had 17 turnovers for 20 Pacer points.

Many were unforced.

Josh Hart had five of those turnovers and four of five starters all had at least two.

Its tough to win against a team like that, a team that turns those turnovers into points, Hart said.

I had four or five bad, stupid turnovers that led to easy baskets.

We have to be more careful with the ball, starting with myself.

Mikal Bridges struggles continued in Game 4.

He went 4-of-5 from the 3-point line (one of those was when the game was out of reach) but shot 2-for-11 inside the arc, along with three turnovers.

The New York wing is shooting 43 percent from the floor in this series and has shot 33 percent or worse from 3 in every game except Wednesday night.

Advertisement Bridges was the primary defender on Pacer star Tyrese Haliburton, who scored a game-high 32 points.

The Knicks bench provided little production offensively although theyve been game-changers on the other end as the trio of Miles McBride, Landry Shamet and Delon Wright had nine points on 3-of-9 shooting in a combined 35 minutes.

Mitchell Robinsons move to the starting lineup has diminished his impact as well.

After being an unstoppable force for opposing teams in these playoffs, Robinsons presence on the glass has been OK but nowhere near what it was when he was coming off the bench, and he hasnt been quite the shot-detouring monster at the rim.

New York conceded 43 points in the first quarter of Game 4.

Haliburton is a great player, and you dont guard great players in this league individually, Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said.

Its your entire team.

If one guy is not doing their job, everyone is going to look bad.

Theres a combination of things, whether were talking transition, isolation game, pick-and-roll game, whatever it might be, its everyone being tied together and moving in unison and reading the ball correctly.

When great players get confidence early, its hard to slow them down.

I thought the urgency to start the game, and giving up the transition baskets, that hurts you.

It gives players confidence.

With all that said, the Knicks are struggling to find consistent lineup combinations for their core players that work.

The starting lineup of Jalen Brunson-Bridges-OG Anunoby-Towns-Robinson had a net rating of -32.9 in 10 minutes on Wednesday.

Ironically, the only lineup that featured New Yorks core players that succeeded was the former starting lineup of Brunson-Bridges-Anunoby-Hart-Towns, and that collective had a net rating of 29.8 in nine minutes of action.

The Knicks best lineup of the night featured both Wright and Shamet, similarly to Game 3, and that group had a net rating of 66.7 in seven minutes played.

Advertisement New York isnt finding consistency from its primary lineups night in and night out.

The former starting lineup that shined in Game 4 was dissembled to start games after Game 2 because that group was a minus-29 through the first two games of the series.

Robinsons addition to the starting unit hasnt been a positive over the course of the last two contests.

The Knicks have been at their best with the defensive-minded Wright and Shamet surrounded by the starters, providing good defense against Indianas second unit when Haliburton sits.

New York has attempted to plug one hole but then, naturally, another one opens.

This entire playoffs has been strange, and the Knicks have been at the forefront of this movement.

Quite literally anything can happen.

If there were ever a time for a team to snap a 34-year drought as it pertains to coming back and winning a series in the Eastern Conference finals in which they trail 3-1, this postseason would be it.

After all, New York is one epic Game 1 collapse away from this series being tied at 2-2.

This playoff matchup has been closer than the series record appears.

The issue, though, isnt that the Knicks dont have the talent to win three straight playoff games.

Its that Indiana appears far too good to allow an opponent to win three postseason games before it can win one.

However, as weve seen for the last month and some change all around the NBA, anything can happen.

The Knicks season is on life support.

No doubt.

But if theres any team that can do the seemingly impossible, its the group that has done it over and over again when its back is against the wall.

Nothing else matters at this point, Brunson said.

You have to give it your all.

Its that simple.

(Photo: David L.

Nemec / NBAE via Getty Images).

This article has been shared from the original article on theathleticuk, here is the link to the original article:

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