Jalen Brunson scored 40-plus points again and the Knicks dominated on the boards as New York took Game 5 against the Indiana Pacers, 121-91, on Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden.

Five technicals were assessed and the referees were at the replay table a lot in this one, but head coach Tom Thibodeau's lineup change seemed to give the Knicks a spark on both ends of the ball.

Starting Miles McBride instead of Precious Achiuwa, Thibs hoped McBride would help open up the Knicks' scoring and defend Tyrese Haliburton and it worked.

Here are the takeaways...

-Brunson looked healthy in Tuesday's game. He was driving to the hoop, stopping on a dime with no problem and was careful with the ball. He made his presence felt in the second quarter, scoring 18 of his 28 first-half points in the frame. Brunson's 28 first-half points were the most by a Knick in a half in postseason history.

It didn't matter who the Pacers put on him, the All-Star guard had his way but it was mostly Andrew Nembhard who was on the receiving end.

Even with Aaron Nesmith guarding him in the second half, Brunson made this Knicks offense hum and put a stop to any runs the Pacers put on, which the number one scoring team did to start the third and fourth quarters.

Brunson finished with 44 points on 18-for-35 shooting, four rebounds and seven assists.

-But the game was won by the Knicks thanks to their energy. They ramped up the defensive intensity after a lull in the first few minutes of the game and were beasts on the boards. At halftime, the Pacers had nine defensive rebounds. Isaiah Hartenstein had seven offensive rebounds.

In total, the Pacers had 38 total rebounds (five offensive). The Knicks had 66 rebounds (20 offensive). Hartenstein had more offensive rebounds (12) than the entire Pacers team. Josh Hart had 11 rebounds while Achiuwa picked up five.

-McBride, in his first postseason start, scored 17 points on 7-of-15 shooting but delivered that energy on both ends of the floor. His main assignment was Haliburton who finished with just 13 points on 5-of-9 shooting. McBride was on the floor for 40 minutes.

-Five technicals were assessed in this game, showing the physicality of this series. The first three came in the second quarter, on an illegal screen on Indiana's Isaiah Jackson which drew Hartenstein to get into his face and Alec Burks tried to break up the two big men, which caused the guard to touch Jackson in the face.

The other two came when Donte DiVincenzo and Myles Turner got into it when the Knicks guard tried to fight over a screen.

-DiVincenzo was mostly a non-factor in this game. In 30 minutes, DiVincenzo was 4-for-14 for eight points. Thankfully for the Knicks, the bench did a great job picking him up.

Burks was great in his 23 minutes on the floor. He was 6-for-11 (3-for-8 from three) with 18 points and five rebounds.

Game MVP: Isaiah Hartenstein

Yeah, Brunson scored 40-plus points again, but Hartenstein completely demoralized this Pacers team with his offensive boards.

The Knicks put up 101 shots to the Pacers' 72 and Hartenstein was a huge reason for it.

His 12 offensive rebounds is the first by a Knicks since Charles Oakley in 1994. Hartenstein is also the ninth player in NBA history to pull down 12 offensive boards in a playoff game.

Here are the takeaways...

Game MVP: Isaiah Hartenstein

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