There was 9:30 left in the fourth quarter in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals when a raucous Madison Square Garden crowd began chanting “Landry Shamet” with the New York Knicks up 17 points against the Indiana Pacers Thursday night. Shamet just forced a Pacers turnover after stonewalling TJ McConnell underneath the basket as the Pacers guard was trying to generate some offense for Indiana.
McConnell got the angle on Shamet to drive to the rim, but the Knicks guard recovered perfectly to wall off any opportunity to get a shot off. McConnell tried to find a teammate to pass it off to, but Shamet’s presence forced the usually savvy Indiana guard into fumbling the ball out of bounds. Shamet played up to the crowd like he was a WWE performer, and the fans showed love back by showering him with an ovation and loud chants.
“I love New York, I love these fans,” Shamet said of the appreciation shown by the home crowd. “I’ve seen how they ride the wave with us — the highs, the lows. So it’s just important for me. I just want to give everything I’ve got to them. So I appreciate it, but we’ve got more to do.”
It was the perfect highlight to explain Shamet’s performance in Game 5, which the Knicks won 111-94. He played 14 minutes, which was the most run he’s gotten in the postseason thus far. While his stats don’t jump off the page — five points, one rebound, one steal on 2 of 3 from the floor — his impact was certainly felt, especially on the defensive side of the ball.
In the previous four games of this series, the Knicks struggled to slow the Pacers and lacked the level of physicality that we saw from them against the Celtics. That changed Thursday night on a team-wide scale, and for Shamet, he immediately checked into the game and made the Pacers work for their points.
On one possession, he denied Pascal Siakam from trying to post him up, and even after Siakam secured the offensive board, Shamet still didn’t get overpowered by Siakam’s size, resulting in him having to pass out of the play.
Later in the second quarter, Shamet applied ball pressure on Bennedict Mathurin, which almost resulted in a turnover. A few minutes later, he followed that up by putting on a fundamental masterclass on fighting over screens, staying connected to the person you’re defending and moving your feet when guarding in space.
“It talks to the professionalism [Landry Shamet and Delon Wright] have, to be ready for the moment,” Karl-Anthony Towns said. “They did a great job. Every single day, we see them working. We see them always being ready for us, so if we ever need them, they can come in and impact the game. This series has shown their professionalism, their character and I hope the whole world and fans recognize it.”
Under coach Tom Thibodeau, the Knicks have historically run with a short rotation. There’s always commentary — some of which is warranted — about Thibodeau relying too much on his starting unit and not trusting the bench players. The Knicks finished the regular season with two players ranked in the top five of minutes played (Josh Hart and Mikal Bridges), with OG Anunoby and Jalen Brunson both in the top 20.
That unwillingness to go to the bench unit has reared its ugly head on more than one occasion for the Knicks throughout the playoffs. And against the Pacers, who heavily rely on their depth, it’s been apparent how much New York is lacking in that regard. But Thibodeau has shown confidence in Shamet and Wright over the last two games, and it’s been an important development in this series. And it wasn’t just the defense, though that was the most important takeaway from Shamet’s playing time. He also knocked down some well-timed buckets to stifle any comeback from the Pacers. The 3-pointer Shamet converted midway through the second quarter was the start of an 8-0 scoring run the Knicks used to increase the lead to double digits.
We’ve seen in the past how impactful Shamet’s 3-point shooting can be in the playoffs, and now that it seems as though he’s gotten a vote of confidence from Thibodeau, perhaps we’ll see his role expand even more in Game 6.