The New York Knicks had a 10-point lead in the third quarter, and a five-point lead early in the fourth quarter. However, they imploded late defensively and the Indiana Pacers defeated New York by a score of 132-121. The Knicks drop back under .500 to 4-5 on the season and the Pacers improve to 5-5.
New York continues to suffer from the absence of their key bench pieces and is feeling the effects of playing shorthanded. The Knicks essentially played six guys as Miles McBride was the only reserve to play more than nine minutes. He finished with seven points and two steals in 29 minutes.
The Knicks couldn’t contain the Pacers in the second half
The Pacers were missing five rotational players, including two starters. However, Tyrese Haliburton, Bennedict Mathurin, and Myles Turner took over for Indiana and the Knicks had no answer for them in the second half.
Haliburton scored 21 points in the second half en route to a 35-point, 14-assist night. Mathurin finished with a career-high 38 points and shot 7-for-9 from three, and Turner had 18 points in the second half to get him to 26 on the night. The big man also knocked down five three-pointers.
The Pacers outscored the Knicks 40-27 in the fourth quarter behind their lights-out shooting. The Knicks had a poor defensive effort down the stretch which allowed the Pacers to stretch their lead to double digits, and it is clear that they have to make adjustments defensively moving forward.
The Knicks did not shoot enough threes against the Pacers
The biggest difference in the game was the three-point shooting. New York shot just 7-for-25 from beyond the arc in this game and shot 0-for-8 from three in the second half. Indiana, meanwhile, shot 21-for-46 from three.
In today’s NBA, shooting is critical to winning games, and the Knicks simply did not attempt enough shots from outside the arc to keep up with the Pacers. In this game, the few threes that they did take did not fall. Mikal Bridges, who had been fairly efficient to begin the season, had a very rough shooting game in this one, as he scored just eight points and shot 0-for-6 from distance.
The Knicks got a great performance from their All-Star duo
The lone bright spot from this game is that the Knicks got great offensive performances from some of their top players. Jalen Brunson snapped out of his shooting slump with a 33-point, 10-assist performance and shot 11-for-17 from the floor.
Karl-Anthony Towns continued his offensive brilliance with 30 points and nine rebounds on 11-for-19 shooting from the field and 2-for-5 from three. Towns has now recorded 30 points in three consecutive games as he continues to be a force for the Knicks in the early part of the season.
OG Anunoby had his best offensive game of the season against the Pacers, as he finished with 25 points on 9-for-14 shooting and 3-for-4 from beyond the arc. Anunoby was also effective defensively with two steals on the night.
The Knicks will now regroup and try to get themselves back in the win column on Tuesday when they will take on the Philadelphia 76ers on the road. Superstar center Joel Embiid is expected to make his season debut that night.