Karl-Anthony Towns' 20-point fourth quarter stole the headlines, and rightfully so. The best shooting big man in NBA history put the Knicks on his back and carried them to a season-saving win.
But KAT wouldn't have had that chance for heroics without two entirely unexpected unsung heroes: Delon Wright and Landry Shamet.
Both veteran guards had barely sniffed the floor in the playoffs — Wright had appeared for three minutes in one game, and Shamet for four minutes per game across seven games — but Tom Thibodeau was searching, and so he tried them both out for double-digit minutes against the Pacers.
They combined for just five total points, but that wasn't the intention of their impact. Both are lanky defenders with floor-spacing capability. They offered a different look at both ends of the floor than what the Pacers had been seeing all series.
MORE: Austin Reaves' agent delivers savage trade message
In the end, Wright and Shamet served as the opening act to KAT's late-game surge.
The pair entered within seconds of each other late in the third quarter, with the Knicks down 15 and then 13 when they respectively came into the game.
When they left about a minute apart in the fourth quarter, the Knicks had pulled to within 5 and then 3.
It wasn't all on the backs of the journeymen. But they were there at the key turning point.
If the Knicks lost Sunday night in Indiana, their season would be on life support. Now, though, it's very much alive.
No one expected their latest massive postseason comeback to depend on Wright and Shamet. But it did, and they delivered when their number was called.
MORE: Josh Hart plays new video game to solve on-court issues