The Knicks kept it close for as long as they could.
Even as the Indiana Pacers controlled the tempo, put on a shooting clinic and forced turnover after turnover, the Knicks never trailed by more than six points in the first half of Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals.
They survived slow starts by Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns.
They answered a rapid third-quarter run by the Pacers with one of their own.
But in the end, Indiana proved to be too much.
The Knicks’ season came to an end with a 125-108 loss at Indianapolis’ Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Saturday night, dashing their dreams of returning to the NBA Finals for the first time since 1999.
The Pacers shot 17-of-33 (51.5%) on 3-pointers and turned 18 Knicks turnovers into 34 points. Indiana scored 25 fastbreak points to the Knicks’ 10.
Indiana’s Pascal Siakam led all scorers with 31 points on 10-of-18 shooting. Tyrese Haliburton added 21 points and 13 assists.
Brunson, who was hounded by a new primary defender in Andrew Nembhard, scored 19 points and finished 8-of-18 from the field. Towns went 8-of-19 and finished with 22 points and 14 rebounds.
The game got away from the Knicks in the third quarter, when the Pacers outscored them 34-23 and rattled off two separate 9-0 runs.
Haliburton capped that third quarter with a coast-to-coast dunk, providing a perfect encapsulation of the unrelenting quick-strike offense that Indiana rode to a series victory.
The loss brought an unceremonious finish to a season in which the Knicks earned the East’s No. 3 seed and advanced to the conference finals for the first time since 2000.
The Knicks had staved off elimination with Thursday’s commanding 111-94 win in Game 5 at Madison Square Garden, inspiring hope that they unlocked the necessary adjustments to pull off an improbable series comeback.
The Knicks largely dictated the pace in that Game 5 win, with Mikal Bridges’ backcourt pressure on Haliburton disrupting the flow of Indiana’s offense.
But Indiana regained control of the tempo to start Game 6.
They repeatedly pushed the ball down the court, leading to first-quarter layups for Siakam and Obi Toppin. In one early two-minute stretch, Siakam, Aaron Nesmith and Myles Turner each drilled a 3-pointer.
The Knicks committed six turnovers in the first quarter, but they trailed only 25-24 through 12 minutes thanks largely to five offensive rebounds and six points from Mitchell Robinson.
Following an eight-point dud in Game 5, Haliburton picked up four assists in Saturday’s first quarter but went scoreless on four shot attempts.
Haliburton got going in the second quarter.
His first points came on a wide-open 3-pointer after Towns retreated to the paint to protect against a drive, putting Indiana up 39-33. Later in the quarter, Haliburton leaked ahead for an emphatic transition dunk.
But the Knicks hung around thanks to 12 second-quarter points from OG Anunoby, including an off-balance buzzer beater to end the quarter.
The Knicks trailed 58-54 at halftime.
The Pacers opened the third quarter on a 9-0 run, with Siakam making a 3-pointer on the opening possession and adding a three-point play less than two minutes later.
It grew to a 20-9 run, with a pair of Thomas Bryant 3-pointers — and another from Nembhard sandwiched in between — putting Indiana up 78-63 with 6:44 left in the third.
The Knicks responded with an 8-0 run, but Indiana answered with their second 9-0 run of the period.
Haliburton then took over in the fourth, scoring 11 points and dishing out four assists.
Nembhard finished with six steals and 14 points. He received the assignment on Brunson because Nesmith, who had guarded the Knicks’ point guard, was playing through a right ankle sprain. Brunson finished with five turnovers, tying Bridges for the game high.
“He’s been dominating this series,” Nembhard said of Brunson during an in-game interview with TNT, “so anything I can do to irritate him would be good.”
The Knicks entered as the series’ favorites, but they fell into a 2-0 hole after back-to-back losses at home, including a Game 1 in which they blew a 17-point fourth-quarter lead.
They were trying to become the 14th team (out of 298) to come back from a 3-1 deficit, and the first to win a conference finals after losing Games 1 and 2 at home.
Instead, this is the second year in a row the Knicks were eliminated by the Pacers, who beat them in seven games in the second round last year.
The Knicks have now lost their last four playoff series against Indiana, dating back to 2000.
And now the Pacers are back in the NBA Finals for the first time since 2000. Indiana is set to face the Oklahoma City Thunder, with Game 1 scheduled for Thursday night in Oklahoma City.
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