Indiana Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle speaks after loss to New York Knicks
The Indiana Pacers fell to the New York Knicks on Thursday, May 29, 2025, in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

The post Pacers’ Rick Carlisle gets brutally honest about what doomed them in Game 5 appeared first on ClutchPoints.

The Indiana Pacers entered Game 5 of their Eastern Conference Finals series against the New York Knicks looking to advance to the NBA Finals. Instead, they are headed back to Indiana for Game 6 following a 111-94 blowout loss.

In the loss, only one Pacers starter even reached double figures in scoring, and it was not Tyrese Haliburton. The Pacers’ point guard finished with eight points on 2-for-7 from the floor, adding six assists and two rebounds. But he was far from the only problem Indiana faced on Thursday night.

After the game, Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle was very candid about what went wrong.

We obviously did not play with the force that we needed to,” Carlisle said bluntly.

“”We lost the rebound battle, we lost the turnover battle, we didn’t shoot well. They had a lot to do with it, so give them credit. We are going to have to play much better.”

Indiana shot just 40 percent from the field in Game 5, and that is with Bennedict Mathurin scoring a highly-efficient 23 points off the bench. They lost the battle of the boards, 45-40 and 11-8 on the offensive glass. The Pacers also committed 20 turnovers in the loss, five more than the Knicks. All around, it was an awful game for the team from the Hoosier State.

The good news is the Pacers have shown throughout the playoffs they bounce back quite well. Their first loss of these NBA Playoffs came in Game 3 of their first-round series with the Milwaukee Bucks. They won Game 4 by 26 points.

In the second round, following their only loss in that series, they bounced back to win by 20.

After the Knicks won Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals, the Pacers got a historic effort from Haliburton, leading to a 130-121 win. They will have their home crowd at their back and look to clinch their first NBA Finals appearance in 25 years.