Shorthanded Knicks drop Game 3 111-106 on unlikely game-winning shot from Pacers’ Andrew Nembhard

INDIANAPOLIS — This was the shot the Knicks wanted to give up.

Pacers All-Star Tyrese Haliburton, who had 35 points on the night, sought two more with Game 3 tied at 106 apiece and less than 30 seconds to go in the fourth quarter.

Tom Thibodeau’s Knicks would never let that happen. Anyone but the man with the hot hand.

So they sent the double team in the waning moments of Game 3 at the Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Friday, helping off of Pacers guard Andrew Nembhard, who entered the fourth quarter with zero points on 0-of-6 shooting from the field.

Nembhard caught the ball close to half court, dribbled up toward Jalen Brunson, who rotated over to guard him, then stepped-back out 30 feet from the rim and heaved the ball with the shot clock expiring.

“That’s it,” Thibodeau said after the game. “Haliburton had the ball. He had it going pretty good. [We sent the] double team, had a good rotation. He made a tough shot.”

Nembhard’s shot ripped through the net to give the Pacers a three-point lead. Brunson forced a bad three on the other end of the floor, and the Pacers sunk a pair of free throws to survive Game 3 and hand the Knicks a 111-106 defeat on Friday.

“I mean, it was a good shot. It was at the end of the shot clock. It was a good shot,” said Josh Hart. “At the end of the day, he should have never got that shot because we should have grabbed that rebound. We had several chances to get rebounds. So tough shot that he made, and we’ve gotta give them credit for that and move on.”

The Pacers are one game shy of evening the series, now trailing, 2-1, after a pair of losses at Madison Square Garden.

In truth, Friday’s showdown never should have been this close.

Not with the injury report the Knicks submitted to the league 30 minutes ahead of tipoff of Game 3 against the Indiana Pacers on Friday.

The Knicks weren’t only without three-time All-Star Julius Randle, backup center Mitchell Robinson and sixth man Bojan Bogdanovic, but they also lost OG Anunoby to a hamstring strain feared to linger longer than just Game 3 or 4 of this second-round series.

Not to mention Brunson was visibly impacted by a foot injury he sustained in Game 2 back at Madison Square Garden.

Against a desperate Pacers team entering the night in an 0-2 series hole — a mostly healthy Pacers squad whose secret weapon is depth with a rotation stretching nine to 10 deep — the Knicks weren’t supposed to be in the game.

Some on social media even suggested a battered Knicks team punt Game 3, that is: lose on purpose to give their key rotation players a chance to rest and recover for Game 4.

Hell no.

Those are the words Donte DiVincenzo uttered some eight hours ahead of tipoff after Friday morning shootaround. Words his Knicks embodied on-court at the Gainbridge Fieldhouse Friday night.

“We ain’t punting nothing,” DiVincenzo said after shootaround. “We coming in here to win the game.”

The Knicks didn’t win.

Instead, they came close, losing on a three-point heave from the Pacers’ last offensive option. Nembhard finished with just five points on two-of-eight shooting from the field. All five of his points came in the fourth quarter as the Pacers erased the Knicks’ 95-86 lead at the 10:30 mark in the fourth quarter. The Pacers also out-rebounded the Knicks, 15-10, in the fourth quarter, including a 5-3 advantage on the offensive glass.

“They beat us to the ball, but I thought we did a lot of good things,” Thibodeau said after the loss. “We had a nine-point lead there, and then we had a couple plays that we got a little loose on, but for the most part, I thought we played a really good game.”

It’s a win the Pacers should have mixed emotions about: their season stays alive, but against a depleted Knicks roster, they almost fell into an 0-3 hole.

DiVincenzo invoked Reggie Miller’s big-time three-point shooting with 35 points on 7-of-11 shooting from downtown. Brunson struggled off of an adjustment made by the Pacers, who changed the defensive assignment from the smaller Nembhard to the stockier Aaron Nesmith, who hounded the Knicks’ All-Star guard all night.

Brunson finished with 26 points but shot 10-of-26 from the field and got off to a one-of-five shooting night from the field.

“It was fine,” Thibodeau said of Nesmith. “It’s not the first time he’s guarded him.”

The Knicks got a much-needed lift from Alec Burks, who played the entire second quarter and scored 14 points on 4-of-4 shooting from the field in the period. Burks had only played 44 seconds through the first eight playoff games before head coach Thibodeau threw him into the fire in the second frame of Game 3.

On one possession, he waved away Josh Hart before rifling off a contested three that ripped through the net.

Haliburton shot 14-of-26 to go with seven assists and two steals. Pascal Siakam came alive late, seeking the size mismatch as Thibodeau went away from Precious Achiuwa and played Burks and Miles McBride down the stretch.

Siakam finished with 26 points on 9-of-14 shooting, and starting Pacers center Myles Turner added 21 points and 10 rebounds.

The Knicks now have a quick turnaround with a 3:30 p.m. tipoff against the Pacers in Game 4 on Sunday.

A shorthanded Knicks team has much to be proud of after nearly stealing Game 3 in hostile Indiana territory on Friday.

At least that’s the glass half full approach. The shorthanded Knicks also let an opportunity to go up 3-0 slip through their grasp.

And with Anunoby’s status murky for Game 4, and possibly Game 5, the toll on an already heavily-worked core will only increase as this team treks further into the postseason.

“We’ve gotta do better. Every game we play, you look at it the same way,” Thibodeau said. “Win or lose, you look at the things you have to fix, and we have to fix them quick. That’s the challenge of the playoffs, so that’s our approach.”