The Knicks were crushed by the Pacers in a painful Game 7 as their playoff hopes ended

NBA

By Stephen Bondy

The conditions were set for a heroic Knicks performance. The meaning of Purana.

Both Josh Hart and OG Anunboy started despite their “questionable” statuses.

The crowd lit up for the first Game 7 in nearly 30 years.

Except the Pacers rose to the occasion, slinging the Knicks, Bones and Sloppy in a 130-109 elimination game Sunday afternoon.

Jalen Brunson’s tremendous season ended in the locker room with a broken left hand, the injury sustained while shooting 6-for-17 over 29 minutes in a disappointing performance. It’s unclear when Brunson broke his shooting arm, but he was ruled out in the third quarter.

He quickly went to the locker room, reappeared briefly to try to check on the game, but then left the court.

Brunson shot less than 40 percent in Games 6 and 7, with the Knicks needing just one win to advance to the franchise’s first conference finals since 2000.

Only Donte DiVincenzo (39 points) and Alec Burks (26 points) kept the Knicks from being shutout at home.

Meanwhile, the Pacers poured the offense while shooting 67 percent. Tyrese Halliburton, who scored 26 of their points, was talking smack all over the Garden Court. Halliburton shot 10-of-17, including 6-of-12 from beyond the arc. Pascal Siakam added 20 points.

The Pacers have flexed their depth all series and have pushed the Knicks in the final two games.

Anunoby, who had missed the previous four games with a hamstring strain, did his best Willis Reed impression after being a surprise addition to the starting lineup.

Clearly labored and limping, Anunoby buried two of his shot attempts — including a contested off-balance trey.

But he strained his hamstring and was unable to move after 10 days. Anunoby’s defense was an issue, and he was removed less than five minutes into the match, leaving for good.

In the process, Anunoby may have shed some of the “soft” label that has followed him since his injury-plagued tenure in Toronto. But if his active presence was an attempt to intimidate the Pacers or take over Rick Carlisle’s team, it didn’t work.

The pacers were on fire at the start. Unfazed by a raucous Garden crowd, they sank an outrageous 76 percent of their shots in the first half — including two-thirds of their 3-pointers — and built a 22-point lead.

That marks the best shooting percentage in the first half of any team over the past 25 postseasons, according to ESPN.

Hart wandered more than expected two days ago while playing with an abdominal injury in Game 6. But he couldn’t make a shot in 37 minutes, missing all four of his 3-point attempts before leaving the court praising “Josh Hart.” Slogans.

But like Hart, the Knicks had nothing left for Game 7.