The Indiana Pacers beat the New York Knicks 116-103 in Game 6 of the NBA Eastern Conference semifinals at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana, on Friday, tying the series 3-3.

A clear pattern could be seen in the Eastern semifinals between the Pacers and the Knicks: the home team won, and the team that led in rebounds won. Friday's game was the third and final home game for the Pacers. They led 47-35 in rebounds and 14-13 on the offensive glass.

Of course, the contest itself was not so simple. The Pacers did several things right to win on Friday night. First, the whole team stopped at nothing to charge the rim because coach Rick Carlisle realized that without Mitchell Robinson and OG Anunoby, the Knicks' defense in the paint was no better than a house of cards.

Though the Pacers struck many as a team that shot a lot of jumpers, they scored 10,110 points in the paint during the regular season, more than any other team in the league, and were the only franchise to surpass 10,000 on this front. From Pascal Siakam to Tyrese Haliburton, their first option of attack was always to break in. The whole team made 31 of their 47 shots in the paint to score 62 points there.

The Pacers did a good job of guarding Jalen Brunson as well. It's difficult for them to completely shut down someone who averaged 33.9 points per game in the postseason with the NBA's No. 24 defense. However, the team showed the right intent by pressuring Brunson from the back court, denying him the ball and double-teaming him from time to time. Brunson still got 31 points for the Knicks, but the Pacers managed to build a double-digit lead in the second quarter when he missed 11 straight FGs.

Brunson played 41 minutes per game in the playoffs. Judging by his favorite moves in isolation that involved a lot of physical contact, it's actually surprising that he began to feel run down so late in the series. When he struggled to make shots, Miles McBride and Donte DiVincenzo provided some help, but they were overwhelmed and outnumbered by the Pacers.

Unfortunately, Brunson's waning strength was not the biggest concern for the Knicks. Their head coach, Tom Thibodeau, has been known for using short rotations. The team had three players, Josh Hart, Brunson and Anunoby, who have averaged over 40 minutes per game in the postseason so far. Anunoby already suffered a hamstring injury in Game 2 against the Pacers; Hart exited Friday's game in the fourth quarter with abdominal soreness. If the rest of the team continues to be overloaded, more injuries may be unavoidable.

Despite the aggression the Knicks always display on the court, they now have one of the smallest rosters among all teams in the postseason. When Isaiah Hartenstein was on the bench, they faced a defensive vacuum in the paint that Precious Achiuwa couldn't fill. Brunson, Hart, DiVincenzo, McBride and Alec Burks are all in guard size and only able to make very limited contributions to protecting the rim.

Furthermore, the Pacers are a very disciplined team on the offensive end, thanks to the orchestration of Haliburton and T.J. McConnell. They set up a lot of open jumpers in Friday's game with reasonable ball movement. The Knicks’ defenders overreacted on a lot of occasions, but they had no other choice because the undersized squad must remedy their defect with more frequent rotations, even at the cost of losing defensive positions.

Game 7 of the series will take place at Madison Square Garden in New York City on Sunday.