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NBA playoff roundup: Knicks blitz the Pacers

New York uses late 30-2 surge to even series at 1-1

Knicks guard Carmelo Anthony threw down a two-handed dunk between three Pacers in the second half of the Knicks rout.JASON SZENES/EPA

Carmelo Anthony hung from the rim, the helpless defender who tried to stop his dunk lying on the court below after falling down.

Pretty soon, Anthony’s jumper was falling, too.

Once that happened, the New York Knicks blew away the Indiana Pacers with a performance that resembled something from earlier this season, not this series.

Anthony scored 32 points, 16 during a 30-2 New York onslaught in the second half, and the Knicks beat the Pacers, 105-79, on Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden to even the Eastern Conference semifinal series at one game.

‘‘I think for the most part from the start of the game and throughout the whole game, I think we played with a sense of urgency today,’’ Anthony said. ‘‘We played the way we've been playing as far as competing at the highest level.’’

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Iman Shumpert added 15 points, including a sensational follow dunk in the first half, and Raymond Felton scored 14 as the Knicks turned a close game into a blowout over the final 15 minutes.

Paul George scored 20 points for the Pacers, who had a 2-point lead and momentum when coach Frank Vogel called timeout with a little more than 3 minutes left in the third quarter.

By the time the Pacers got on the board in the final period, the Knicks had opened a 26-point advantage.

‘‘The fourth quarter we just defensively, we picked up,’’ Knicks coach Mike Woodson said. ‘‘We kept getting stop after stop and then we would rebound the ball and get it up and our offense began to flow like old times. It was kind of nice to see.’’

Game 3 is Saturday at Indianapolis.

David West scored 13 points for the Pacers, who committed 21 turnovers that led to 32 points, negating their height advantage that loomed so large in their Game 1 victory.

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Indiana had trailed most of the night before taking a 64-62 lead on George Hill’s 3-pointer with 3:28 left in the third quarter that capped a 10-4 run.

Vogel then called timeout with a little more than 3 minutes left and subbed out center Roy Hibbert.

Seeing the middle open, Anthony came back attacking, first with a drive and then a dunk while drawing a foul that knocked over Hibbert’s replacement, Jeff Pendergraph, and the game was never the same.

‘‘It was our timeout,’’ Vogel said. ‘‘I usually use that situation to put something in while we have the ball.’’

New York closed the period on a 10-2 run, Pablo Prigioni opened the fourth with a 3-pointer and a jumper in the lane, drawing chants of ‘‘Pablo! Pablo!’’ and then Anthony put it away.

He hit a jumper and a 3-pointer, and after Tyson Chandler’s follow dunk, the NBA’s scoring leader converted a 3-point play and drilled another 3-pointer before another basket by Chandler made it 92-66, extending the run to 30-2.

Grizzlies 99, Thunder 93 — Mike Conley had 26 points, 10 rebounds, and 9 assists, Marc Gasol added 26 points, and Memphis won in Oklahoma City to even the Western Conference semifinal series at one game.

The Grizzlies outscored the Thunder, 30-19, in the fourth quarter to pull out the victory. Memphis also had a commanding performance in the paint, outscoring Oklahoma City, 50-30.

Kevin Durant led the Thunder with 36 points, 11 rebounds, and 9 assists. Derek Fisher added 19 points in 26 minutes off the bench. Fisher connected on 4 of the 5 3-pointers he attempted. Oklahoma City also turned the ball over 21 times, leading to 29 points for the Grizzlies.

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Conley hit a 3-pointer from the left wing with 1:58 left to put the Grizzlies ahead to stay, then added an 18-foot jumper to stretch the lead to 94-90.