Highlights

• The New York Knicks are struggling after losing their last two games, and now must rely on their Villanova trio for success.
• Injury troubles have plagued the starting five, so now need Jalen Brunson, along with Josh Hart, and Donte DiVincenzo to step up.
• The Villanova trio are impressing with their postseason performances, having shared more on-court minutes together.

The New York Knicks are currently battling in a hard-fought contest with the Indiana Pacers, with them desperately looking to bounce back after losing the last two contests on the road.

But with injury troubles galore to the starting five once again, NBA insider Mark Medina believes that the former Villanova Wildcats trio of Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart, and Donte DiVincenzo – all now members of the Knicks – are New York’s biggest ‘X Factor’ in determining whether they can still scrape past the surging Pacers, with a place in the Eastern Conference Finals awaiting the winner.

Knicks Seeking To Reclaim Momentum

Lost last two outings by a total of 37 points, now tied 2-2 in the series vs. the Pacers

The Knicks have now dropped two NBA games on the bounce and are at risk of going 3-2 down in their series with Indiana, having led 2-0 after the first two contests.

Having entered the series as the favored number two seed, New York started the series emphatically, with Jalen Brunson carrying his momentum from toward the end of their series win over the Philadelphia 76ers, in which he exploded for 40-plus points in four consecutive outings, before going down injured in the first quarter of game two over Indiana, though he would return in the second half and help lead the Knicks to a 130-121 victory.

But, Brunson wasn’t the only Knick to suffer an injury in that game two contest, sufferring a huge blow when key player, OG Anunoby, went down after a transition layup attempt late in the third quarter, and he wouldn’t be as lucky to return. He was later ruled out with a hamstring strain, and hasn't featured since.

While the Knicks fought to keep the game close in game three, despite their roster almost down to its bare bones of depth, they were no match for the rampant Pacers in game four, where they suffered a 32-point blowout, with Tyrese Haliburton looking to have found his early season form that saw him named an All-Star starter for the first time, going off for 34 points, nine assists and six rebounds on 11-for-19 shooting, including an efficient 7-for-11 from behind the three-point line.

Now, entering game five back at Madison Square Garden, it is crucial that they find a way to bounce back without Anunoby - having already been without Julius Randle and Mitchell Robinson, who suffered an injury in the first-round of the 2024 playoffs - or they risk the series slipping almost all away from them, though they do come into the game as 2.5 point favorites.

If they are to come out of game five victorious, though, they may need to rely on a starting line-up comprised of Brunson, Hart, DiVincenzo, Miles McBride and Isaiah Hartenstein that proved dominant throughout the regular season, where they outscored their opponents by 104 points in 172 minutes of shared on-court time.

But only time will tell if head coach Tom Thibodeau will revert to that line-up, or whether he will opt to keep Precious Achiuwa in his starting five.

Brunson Needs Hart, DiVincenzo To ‘Hit Open Shots’

Medina believes that the Villanova Wildcats core are at the heart of the Knicks, and New York’s success depends on all three of them to play their roles to perfection, especially in the wake of further injury troubles.

But, the journalist argues it all starts with Brunson leading the way, where he needs to find a way to unlock his teammates, and feed them the ball so they can hit clean, and open shots.

“I think it's incredibly important. I think it's the biggest X Factor here because of a few things. They got injuries. There's no Julius Randle, noBojan Bogdanović, no Mitchell Robinson, no OG Anunoby.

This trio ofplayers - when you're looking at Brunson, Hart and DiVincenzo, obviously it starts with Jalen Brunson. He's their main guy. But, to relieve Brunson from all the defensive attention, he needs players like Hart and DiVincenzo to hit open shots.

So, their chemistry is the most important part of this, because they get along well, but they also complement each other with every individual game here. So we'll see what happenswith Indiana, but this is going to be a series,so they’ve got toget all their best from the Villanova players.”

Working Seamlessly in Tandem

Combined for 65.2 PTS, 15.1 AST and 19.8 REB so far in the post-season

While Brunson has been the key cog in the Knicks’ machine, he cannot will his team to victory entirely on his own, and in the wake of his team being riddled by injury, he has had to turn to some familiar faces to help get New York over the line – his former college teammates, Josh Hart and Donte DiVincenzo.

As a trio, they won an NCAA National Title together back in 2016, and so far, throughout their first NBA playoff run on the same team, they have averaged a combined 65.2 points, 15.1 assists and 19.8 rebounds, though that figure alters slightly when they share the court at the same time.

Nonetheless, these figures are significantly - and unexpectedly - up from their regular season campaign, in which they averaged 53.6 points, 13.5 assists, and 15.6 rebounds between them, though, again, those numbers dropped further when delving into their numbers when sharing the court together, due to only averaging 15.0 minutes per game.

With the sheer number of names on the post-season injury report, their on-court time together has spiked to an average of 28.2 minutes, and 236 total minutes, though in that time, they are outscored by 3.9 points per 100 possessions as a trio.

That doesn't tell the whole story though, with their overall efficiency having taken a hard hit without Anunoby alongside them, where they outscored opponents by 8.8 points per 100 possessions, a total swing of 12.7 points, when he also featured in the line-up.

GIVEMESPORT Key Statistic: Josh Hart led the first round of the NBA playoffs in loose balls recovered (13), feet traveled (107,711), and offensive rebounds (22 - tied).

With the Villanova trio doing the best they can in their teammates' absences, with Hart leading all of New York in minutes played per outing, averaging 44.1 per contest, and Brunson not too far behind with 40.8 minutes, they now stand on the brink of taking a 3-2 series lead, though it will take everyone, including their fans at MSG, to help them get over the line, and hope they can wrap up the series on the road in the Pacers.

However, with Indiana hitting form at the right time, and a sizable advantage when it comes to bench options, it looks to be an uphill battle for New York from here.

All statistics courtesy of Statmuse, ESPN, NBA.com and Basketball Reference.