The New York Knicks bounced back from their Celtics loss with a big road win on Tuesday, defeating the Indiana Pacers in blowout fashion 128-115. New York improves to 35-18 while Indiana falls to 29-23.
Karl-Anthony Towns and Josh Hart combined for 70 points against the Pacers
Karl-Anthony Towns and Josh Hart were terrific against the Pacers and provided some big-time play when they needed it the most.
Towns put in his best game since injuring his thumb with 40 points, 12 rebounds, five assists, and three steals on 14-for-23 shooting from the floor and 3-for-8 from three. The big man now has three 40-point games this season and the Pacers had no answer for the All-Star center.
Towns had been struggling recently as he deals with the thumb injury, particularly from outside the arc. However, he didn’t seem to be bothered in this one, as his performance against the Pacers was reminiscent of his performances at the beginning of the season, dominating the interior and knocking down a few threes along with it.
Josh Hart came up huge for the Knicks who were already without OG Anunoby due to injury and Jalen Brunson sat most of the second half with foul trouble. Hart finished with a season-high 30 points and grabbed 10 rebounds along with five assists.
This was Hart’s first 30-10 game of his career, and he is continuing his brilliant season with his outstanding all-around impact. He scored 12 points in the third quarter to help maintain the Knicks’ lead while Brunson was forced to sit after picking up his fifth foul early in the period, which would end up making a huge difference toward the outcome.
The Knicks dominated the interior against the Pacers
With the Pacers playing without Myles Turner, the Knicks took advantage of them missing their top rim protector and dominated the interior. New York led for most of the game and beat Indiana in several offensive categories.
The Knicks scored an astounding 68 points in the paint, cutting through the Pacers’ weak protection underneath the basket. Hart scored 22 of his 30 points in the paint. New York also crushed Indiana on the boards, as they won the overall rebound battle 48-36 and hauled in 13 offensive rebounds.
Those rebounds helped create second-chance opportunities for the Knicks, as they delivered 19 second-chance points while the Pacers were only able to muster six. Three Knicks players had double-digit rebounds, and along with Towns and Hart, Precious Achiuwa also contributed an additional 12 rebounds starting in Anunoby’s place.
Jalen Brunson and Mikal Bridges struggled offensively
Despite coming away with the win, the Knicks got abnormal offensive performances from Brunson and Mikal Bridges. Brunson scored just eight points and shot 4-for-11 from the field. As previously mentioned, his court action was limited after finding himself in early foul trouble.
Bridges was very quiet against the Pacers, as he took just seven shots and scored only six points to go along with five rebounds and five assists. With Hart and Towns taking over the game, Bridges has to resort to making an impact on the defensive end, which he did very well as the Pacers struggled to come close to grabbing the lead during the second half.
Luckily for the Knicks, they were able to come away with the win thanks to some key contributions from the bench. Miles McBride chipped in 15 points and was 4-for-4 from downtown, and Landry Shamet scored an additional 11 points on 5-for-9 shooting.
Overview
The Knicks got themselves a massive win over a Pacers team that was rolling coming into the game. New York will now head back home to take on the Atlanta Hawks in the second half of a back-to-back on Wednesday in what is their final game before the All-Star break.