by Jordan Morey
While the Indiana Pacers have built a resume for busting winning streaks, the Blue & Gold couldn’t put on the finishing touches in what would’ve been their biggest one of the season on Thursday night in the Big Apple.
Despite leading at the end of each of the first three quarters, the wheels fell off for the Pacers (27-22) in the final frame against the red-hot New York Knicks (32-17) in a 109-105 loss at Madison Square Garden.
Indiana was outscored 30-21 in the fourth quarter and shot 40 percent from the field. Five of those points came in the final seven seconds for the Pacers when the game was virtually over.
Indiana led at the end of each of the first three quarters before the Knicks tied the game with 6:45 left. A 12-0 scoring streak gave the Knicks the lead with less than five minutes left, and clutch rebounding down the stretch helped put the game out of reach.
The Knicks have won a league-best nine straight games and 15 of their last 17 overall. Indiana has lost back-to-back games going into tomorrow’s home matchup with the Sacramento Kings.
The Pacers shot 45 percent to New York’s 39.8 percent from the field, but were just 8-for-13 from the free throw line, while the Knicks made 19-of-25 from the charity stripe.
Rebounding played a pivotal role in the game, as the Knicks won the margin 60-44 and outscored the Pacers 62-48 in the paint. Seven-footer Isaiah Hartenstein pulled down 19 rebounds for the Knicks, Precious Achiuwa collected 16 boards, and Josh Hart tallied 12.
“We got bullied on the glass,” Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle said. “It’s disappointing because we are a very capable rebounding team. This is the main thing we talked about with this game. We failed on the boards for sure. It’s obviously the difference in the game. We held them to a low shooting number, a low three number, and we didn’t turn the ball over much.”
Jalen Brunson, who was named an All-Star reserve before the game, dropped a game-high 40 points on 15-for-30 shooting, and Donte DiVincenzo added 20 for the Knicks.
Six Pacers players scored in double figures, led by 20 points from Jalen Smith. Pascal Siakam was next with 18 points, and Aaron Nesmith scored 17.
Pacers All-Star point guard Tyrese Haliburton recorded 15 points and five assists in 22 minutes of action. He did not play in the fourth quarter as he continues to play on limited minutes due to injury management for his left hamstring.
Both teams were missing some firepower on the floor Thursday.
New York was without the centerpiece of its recent trade with the Toronto Raptors, as OG Anunoby was ruled out pregame with right elbow inflammation, and starting All-Star forward Julius Randle is missing multiple weeks with a dislocated shoulder. With Anunoby in the lineup, the Knicks have a 12-2 record this season.
Indiana was also missing one of its top players, as leading bench scorer Bennedict Mathurin missed a second straight game with a right toe sprain.
The Pacers led 58-51 at halftime thanks to a strong first quarter.
Nesmith put up 17 points in the first half on 6-for-8 shooting, Siakam had 10 points, and Obi Toppin scored nine for the Pacers, which shot 46.8 percent as a team. Brunson scored 21 points to lead all scorers, and DiViencenzo scored 13 points in the first half.
FIRST QUARTER
In the first quarter, Nesmith and Siakam each racked up 10 points, and the Pacers shot 50 percent as a team while limiting the Knicks to 36 percent shooting, to help the visitors to a 36-26 lead.
After a back-and-forth start to the game, where DiVincenzo scored the Knicks’ first eight points, the Pacers used a 13-4 run – fueled by five points by Nesmith and six by Haliburton – to lead 21-15 midway through the opening frame.
Indiana’s depth helped maintain the lead the remainder of the first quarter, putting together a 10-4 scoring spree in the final 2:52 of the first quarter to stay up by 10.
SECOND QUARTER
The fun continued in the second quarter for Indiana, as back-to-back dunks by Nesmith and Toppin pushed the Pacers ahead 47-32 with 7:24 left in the second quarter.
New York got their deficit down to seven points in the final 2:29 thanks to eight straight points by Brunson.
THIRD QUARTER
Out of intermission, Haliburton scored seven straight points before dishing out an assist to Myles Turner for an and-one to put the Pacers up 68-59 with 8:12 left in the third quarter.
The teams then largely traded baskets until eight straight points by Miles McBride off a layup, 3-pointer, and and-one, made it a three-point game. With three seconds left, Siakam got a driving layup to fall and gave the Pacers a 84-79 advantage.
FOURTH QUARTER
While Smith – who scored 12 of the Pacers’ 21 points in the fourth quarter – drained a 3-pointer for the Pacers to start the final frame, McBride and DiVincenzo answered with one trey each to narrow the score to 87-85 and force an Indiana timeout 90 seconds into the period.
Following a pair of close-range baskets by the Pacers’ Andrew Nembhard, the Knicks extended their run to 18-4 – including 12-0 at one point – after McBride hit a 3-pointer, Brunson scored seven unanswered points, and Hartenstein put back a rebound for a dunk to make it 97-91 with 4:15 left in the game.
Five straight points by Smith then made it a one-possession game, and a Siakam step-back jumper and putback dunk from Smith with two minutes remaining gave the Pacers a 100-99 lead.
Out of a timeout, Brunson scored through contact and missed the free throw on the and-one. However, Hartenstein pulled down the rebound on the free throw miss and DiVincenzo hit a pullup jumper to give the Knicks a 103-100 advantage with 95 seconds left.
Another offensive rebound after getting a stop on the other end led to a Achiuwa tip-in to make it a five-point Knicks lead with 1:04 left. From there, the Knicks held on.
The Pacers will have to put the game against the Knicks behind them quickly, as they host Domantas Sabonis and the Kings (27-19) on Friday at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
Inside the Numbers
The Knicks beat the Pacers 25-13 in second-chance points.
Indiana made 13 total 3-pointers to New York’s eight treys.
The Pacers finished with 13 turnovers to the Knicks’ 10 giveaways.
Jalen Smith scored 12 of the Pacers’ 21 points in the fourth quarter.
The Knicks made four of their eight total made 3-pointers in the fourth quarter.
The Pacers bench outscored the Knicks reserves 47-20. Miles McBride had 16 of those 20 for New York.
You Can Quote Me On That
“We have to find a way. We’ve got to want it more.” – Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle on team rebounding
“When we went to more trapping (on Brunson) in the second half, you’re going to be more vulnerable on the boards. But these problems started long before we were trapping. We may have had a lead most of the game, but that was fool’s gold because what happened on the boards is going to get you – especially on the road.” – Carlisle on the loss.
“There was a range of minutes for tonight, and he was firmly at that range. It was almost identical to the first night. He is progressing, he’s doing well. You never know though until the next day. We have a game tomorrow, so we’ll see where we are tomorrow with him. We have some other guys that are a little banged up, too. It was a physical game.” – Carlisle on Haliburton’s minutes
“Every day I feel a little bit better.” – Haliburton on his health
“He’s a great player. He’s playing at an elite, elite level right now.” – Haliburton on Brunson
“They killed us on the glass. The good thing is we play them again in about a week, so we know what to expect in that one and to be prepared.” – Haliburton on the rebounding
“If we want to win games, we definitely need to be a lot more aggressive on the boards. We’ve got to win those battles. That just helps us get into our offense.” – Obi Toppin on the loss
Stat of the Night
The Knicks pulled down 60 total rebounds, including 24 offensive, against the Pacers. Both of those numbers are the most given up by Indiana in a game this season.
Noteworthy
Indiana is 11-13 on the road this season.
New York owns a 100-94 regular season record over Indiana all-time.
Myles Turner tied Austin Croshere (540) for 12th all-time (eighth in NBA franchise history) in games played for the Pacers on Thursday.
Knicks guard Jalen Brunson and forward Julius Randle were both named All-Star reserves for the East on Thursday.
Originally posted on pacers.com