INDIANAPOLIS — After three games that went down to the wire, the Indiana Pacers were off and running early in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.

The short-handed New York Knicks just didn’t have the legs to keep up.

Tyrese Haliburton scored 20 points, T.J. McConnell finished with 15 points and 10 assists, and the Pacers routed the Knicks 121-89, using the third-largest playoff victory in the franchise’s NBA history to even the series at 2-2.

Game 5 will be Tuesday at Madison Square Garden.

“All we did was do our job,” Haliburton said after finishing with six rebounds, five assists and four 3-pointers. “When you’re at home, you have to protect home court, so we did our job. We understand the magnitude of Game 5 and we’ll be prepared for that one.”

The first three games all came down to key plays in the final three minutes.

Sunday’s game provided a different twist. Indiana led by as much as 43 – the largest deficit any team has faced in these playoffs – and fell just short of matching its two largest NBA postseason victories, a 34-point blowout over Cleveland in April 2018 and a 33-point win over the Lakers in the 2000 NBA Finals.

And while Indiana could seemingly do nothing wrong, the Knicks couldn’t do anything right.

Pascal Siakam and Obi Toppin each scored 14 points, Aaron Nesmith grabbed 12 rebounds, and the Pacers shot 56.8% from the field and 45.2% on 3-pointers.

The Knicks, who again played without four key players because of injuries, looked fatigued.

Alec Burks finished with 20 points for New York. Brunson, who entered the day with a league-best 34.6 points per game in the postseason, scored only 18 on a day when the Knicks shot 33.7% from the field, 18.9% on 3s, and flirted with posting the worst playoff loss in franchise history. The record, 41 points, came at Chicago in April 1991.

Brunson wasn’t the only one struggling. Donte DiVincenzo, who had 35 points in Game 3, scored just seven on Sunday. The two guards were a combined 9 of 30 from the field and 1 of 11 on 3s.

“We can talk about fresher legs and you can give us all the pity we want,” Brunson said. “Yeah, we’re short-handed, but that doesn’t matter right now. We have what we have. So there’s no ‘we’re short-handed,’ there’s no excuse. We lose, we lose. That’s what that was.”

Once again, the Pacers fed off the energy of a nearly full Gainbridge Fieldhouse, where they are now 5-0, with Game 6 coming back to Indianapolis on Friday. Those watching from courtside included Indiana-born singer John Mellencamp, Indianapolis 500 winners Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti and former Pacers stars Dale Davis and Derrick McKey.

What they witnessed was the most dominant performance in the series.

Without forwards OG Anunoby, Bojan Bogdanovic and Julius Randle as well as center Mitchell Robinson, New York produced a 14-point first quarter and a 41-point first half – its two lowest totals through the first 10 playoff games this season.

“We started slowly, they made shots, got a big lead, and it snowballed,” Knicks Coach Tom Thibodeau said. “I thought we missed some wide-open shots early that probably took some energy out of us, and we can’t allow that to happen.”

The Pacers did not make that mistake.

Haliburton’s first 3 gave Indiana the lead for good at 5-2, and the Pacers followed with a 29-7 spurt that made it 34-11.

The Knicks never recovered. They cut the deficit to 36-19 early in the second, only to see Indiana answer with 10 straight points before extending the halftime margin to 69-41.

Things only got worse for the Knicks in the second half.

Indiana led 101-63 after three quarters, a deficit so large both teams rested their starters the entire fourth quarter.

“We did what we needed to do, protect home court,” Pacers Coach Rick Carlisle said. “I’m not going to get into a dissertation about how great we are as a team because we’re only halfway to our goal. We’ve got to understand that and have a great level of humility for what’s coming Tuesday and be braced for it.”

NUGGETS 115, TIMBERWOLVES 107: Nikola Jokic scored 16 of his 35 points in the fourth quarter, and Aaron Gordon had 27 points on 11-for-12 shooting to propel Denver to a series-tying victory in Game 4 of the Western Conference semifinals in Minneapolis.

Jamal Murray got 12 of his 19 points in the third quarter in a momentum carryover from his halftime buzzer-beating swish from behind half court, and the Wolves only cut the deficit below double digits in the second half for brief stretches.

Anthony Edwards scored 44 points in another spectacular performance for Minnesota, shooting 16 for 25 from the floor. But despite a 42-31 rebounding edge, the Wolves were beaten at their own game for the second straight time at home by the defending NBA champions, who were fired up after dropping the first two games of the series on their home court.

The series goes back to Denver for Game 5 on Tuesday night.

Mike Conley scored 15 points, Karl-Anthony Towns went just 5 for 18 from the field for 13 points and 12 rebounds, and Rudy Gobert came alive late to score 11 points and grab 14 rebounds. Still, the Wolves were on their heels at home for a second straight game.

Gordon didn’t miss until there was 3:39 to go. The Nuggets scored eight points in 20 seconds to close the first half, highlighted by Murray’s improbable heave.

NOTES

DRAFT LOTTERY: The Atlanta Hawks went into the NBA draft lottery facing slim odds. They walked away with their biggest victory in years.

The Hawks won the lottery on Sunday, landing the No. 1 pick and a potential cornerstone player in a year where there’s no clear-cut choice.

The Hawks hit the jackpot despite just 3% odds after finishing 10th in the Eastern Conference at 36-46. They dropped their final six regular-season games and lost to the Chicago Bulls in the first round of the play-in tournament.

“It was a shock,” said Atlanta General Manager Landry Fields, who grinned ear to ear when deputy commissioner Mark Tatum announced the Hawks as the winners. “When I first saw that it wasn’t us between 10 and 12, that launched us into the top four. I was like, all right, we’ve got a real shot at this thing. A bit of surprise, but a lot of excitement.”

Washington, Houston, San Antonio and Detroit rounded out the top five. The draft is June 26-27 in Brooklyn.