Tyler Kolek makes case for more minutes in Knicks' win vs. Pacers

Kristian Winfield, New York Daily News on Dec 18, 2025

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The Knicks don’t need another backup point guard. Their solution has been hiding in plain sight all along.

It’s the biggest takeaway from the Knicks’ 114-113 comeback victory over the Indiana Pacers on Thursday, less than 48 hours after they defeated the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA Cup on Tuesday.

Yes, Jalen Brunson is Captain Clutch, the rightful owner of the league’s reigning Clutch Player of the Year award who buried the Pacers with a step-back 3 with 4.4 seconds left on the clock.

But Tyler Kolek is ready for his Madison Square Garden moment. Had it not been for Kolek, Brunson wouldn’t have been in position to seal the deal in Indiana.

The second-year guard out of Marquette is emerging as a reliable option in minutes the team captain spends on the bench. And he’s been thriving in his limited opportunities on the court with the All-Star point guard and floor general.

Kolek posted quite possibly the best performance of his young career: 16 points, 11 assists and six rebounds in 26 minutes off the bench against the Pacers on Thursday. It’s the first double-double of his young career.

The outing immediately followed his standout game in the NBA Cup Final against the San Antonio Spurs on Tuesday with 14 points, five rebounds and five assists.

“I want to thank the Lord for Tyler Kolek for saving me,” Brunson said in his walk-off interview after the victory.

Kolek’s emergence has been a pleasant development for a team that needed a boost at his position.

The Knicks have been in need of another playmaker ever since veteran point guard Malcolm Brogdon opted to retire in the middle of training camp instead of continue his basketball career on a one-year deal in New York this season.

Their need for another option in the backcourt intensified when Miles McBride joined Landry Shamet on the injury list with an ankle sprain ahead of New York’s NBA Cup quarterfinal victory in Toronto.

Kolek has answered the bell. The Knicks sat Karl-Anthony Towns, Mitchell Robinson and Josh Hart alongside McBride and Shamet for Thursday’s matchup against the Pacers, the first leg of a road-home back-to-back before hosting the Philadelphia 76ers at Madison Square Garden on Friday. The sophomore standout selected with the 34th pick in the 2024 NBA draft responded with the best game of his career.

Perhaps no play was more important than a heady moment in crunch time: Kolek rifled a one-handed pass to the right corner to find OG Anunoby, who made a 3 to tie the game at 111 with less than 90 seconds left in regulation.

Anunoby, unfortunately, found himself on an island against his former Toronto Raptors teammate Pascal Siakam on the Pacers’ final offensive possession of the fourth quarter. Siakam posted Anunoby on the right elbow, and he stepped back for a mid-range 2 that drew a shooting foul on the Knicks’ defensive stopper.

Siakam made both free throws to give the Pacers a two-point lead before Brunson came back up the court and hit a side-step go-ahead 3. The Knicks All-Star finished with 25 points and called his performance “garbage” after the game.

The result Thursday night, however, was secondary to the process. The Knicks, after all, started Year 2 center Ariel Hukporti and rookie Mohamed Diawara in place of Towns and Hart against the Pacers. Knicks coach Mike Brown played Trey Jemison III 18 minutes, Guerschon Yabusele 11 minutes and second-year forward Pacome Dadiet four minutes. None of those three players have been regular rotation players, with the exception of Yabusele, who is on the outside looking in.

What mattered most was one of Brown’s non-negotiable standards: competitive spirit. The Knicks had every reason to fold it in immediately after winning the in-season tournament.

But shorthanded, they showed up. And Kolek is a big reason why this team can continue to win games missing key players. Perhaps the second-year guard is becoming a key player himself for a team that used to have a need for the services he’s providing with the opportunity he’s earned.