New York Knicks play against Indiana Pacers during the NBA regular season in New York, Nov 20, 2013. [Calvin Zhou / China Daily USA]

BAYING CROWD

New York came out on a mission, throwing themselves into the contest to the delight of a roaring home crowd demanding payback over last season's six-game loss to Indiana in the conference semi-finals.

But the Pacers showed their growing maturity by patiently whittling down the lead, reeling the Knicks in by the end of the game before leaving them lost again.

"I told the team, we may not see a team as desperate as we saw tonight all year," Vogel added. "They played a great basketball game.

"They came after it, they really guarded it, they defended, they played extremely hard, they went for loose balls and we were still able to prevail. I'm really proud of those guys."

George calmly sank three free throws after he was fouled beyond the arc by Iman Shumpert with 5.2 seconds left in regulation to tie the game 89-89 and send it to extra time.

Vogel said he was confident about the outcome at that point.

"I feel right now we are playing some of the best basketball in the league and I feel like the extra five minutes favors the better team," the coach said.

"That's what I told our guys and the guys came out and took the game."

George, who made 12-of-26 shots, poured in nine more points in overtime to finish with 35 points.

"Considering the way we started this night, we could have easily held our heads down and allowed New York to come up and put this game away early," said George, who scored just 12 points on 3-for-14 shooting in the loss to Chicago.

"We know how to pull one another up, how to rally."