by Raegan Walsh
The Indiana Pacers (30-24) earned their revenge from last week’s loss when they defeated the New York Knicks (33-20), 125-111, Saturday night at Madison Square Garden.
The Pacers were lights out in the Big Apple, taking as much as a 22-point lead on one occasion and shooting 61.0 percent (50-of-82) on the night.
It was Myles Turner’s 23 points on a perfect 9-of-9 shooting clip and eight rebounds that led the Pacers to the win. In addition, Tyrese Haliburton was back to his normal self as he racked up his 29th double-double of the season of 22 points and 12 assists. Pascal Siakam also contributed 19 points and six rebounds.
T.J. McConnell, Isaiah Jackson, and Obi Toppin added significant minutes off the bench as well. McConnell led the reserves with 16 points on 8-of-10 shooting, Jackson contributed 12 points and eight rebounds, and Toppin added nine points.
Despite losing the tip, Indiana would earn the first basket of the game after New York’s two shot attempts failed in its first possession. Turner put the Pacers on the board with a 3-pointer and would go on to also score Indiana’s next bucket as well to give the Blue and Gold a 5-2 lead at 10:29.
Indiana held New York to a 1-of-7 start from the floor within the first three and a half minutes of play. But for the Pacers, Turner’s seven points on a perfect 3-of-3 shooting clip helped Indiana open the game shooting 7-of-10 from the floor within the first five minutes.
Siakam, who went 3-of-4 in the first five minutes, started to catch fire as well. He recorded his sixth point of the game after driving to the hoop from 3-point range and sinking a layup while falling out of bounds at 5:33.
No significant runs were made in the beginning of the quarter as the teams shot basket-for-basket, with Indiana’s largest lead being four points.
Indiana held the lead from the 11:10 minute mark to 3:39, with the exception of a tied score at 5:47. However, a dunk from Precious Achiuwa put New York ahead for the first time at 3:39 sparked a battle for the lead that would last the remainder of the half.
Four uncontested points from McConnell eventually put Indiana ahead, 26-23, two minutes later. However, a completed jumper from Jalen Brunson at 1:26 and two made free-throws from Bojan Bogdanovic gave the Knicks a one-point lead as they closed out the first quarter ahead, 27-26.
Indiana ended the quarter shooting 75 percent (12-of-16) from the floor in the first frame. Turner led the Pacers with nine points on 4-of-4 shooting, while Siakam contributed eight points on 4-of-5 shooting.
Both teams came out of the break hot as they both started the second quarter shooting a perfect 3-of-3 from the floor.
While the Knicks missed their next four shot attempts, an Isaiah Jackson three-point play after being fouled on a layup put Indiana ahead 35-34 at 9:13. Thirty seconds later, the Knicks regained a two-point lead from a 3-pointer by Alec Burks.
Though chasing the lead, Indiana never let New York get further than three points away from them for the next three minutes.
At 6:47, a long Haliburton 3-pointer, made while falling out of bounds in the corner, tied the game, 40-40. After driving to the hoop and faking a dunk, Haliburton threw it out to Nesmith at 3-point range who sunk a trey to give Indiana a 48-47 lead at 4:34.
The teams went basket-for-basket for two possessions, with the Knicks owning a one-point lead at 3:38. However, the Blue and Gold eventually gained enough momentum to take a five-point lead when a 3-pointer from Nesmith, two free throws from Haliburton and a jumper from Turner put Indiana ahead, 56-51, at 2:18 going into a forced New York timeout.
After scoring 35 points in the second quarter, Indiana held a 61-58 lead going into halftime. After scoring three 3-pointers on three attempts, Nesmith led Indiana in its 66.7 percent (14-of-21) second-quarter shooting.
The Pacers’ 68.4 percent (26-of-38) shooting from the floor was led by Turner’s 16 points on a perfect 7-of-7 shooting clip. Siakam followed behind with 10 points on 5-of-6 shooting, while Nesmith had nine points from three made 3-pointers.
Turner got Indiana off to a bright start to the second half with a 3-pointer, however, Indiana then went 0-of-4 for the next roughly four minutes. A pair of threes from Siakam ended the scoring drought as Indiana took an eight-point lead at 7:49.
Siakam’s second trey that put the Pacers ahead, 72-64, was assisted from Haliburton. After the All-Star guard found himself in a two-on-one situation in the lane, Haliburton threw the ball at the backboard, jumped up to rebound it, and dished it out wide while still in the air to Siakam for a corner three.
The Knicks went 4-of-7 after this play, but Indiana maintained its lead. Obi Toppin’s first basket of the half scored at 4:36 gave Indiana its largest lead of the night as it skated ahead to a 79-70 advantage.
McConnell, who scored eight points off the bench in the first half, scored a layup one minute later that gave the Blue and Gold a 83-74 lead.
Indiana led by eight points at 2:05 but missed four straight buckets after earning offensive rebounds on the first three attempts to keep themselves from taking a double-digit lead. Two made layups from Miles McBride brought New York within six points with 39.3 seconds remaining in the third frame.
To end the quarter, a long 3-pointer taken by Haliburton slowly spun into the hoop to give the Pacers a 91-82 advantage.
The Blue and Gold caught fire to start the final frame as they made their first three shot attempts. An Andrew Nembhard 3-pointer finished off this hot streak as the Pacers took a 15-point lead, 99-84, at 10:06.
Haliburton’s 3-pointer at the end of the third frame started an eventual 19-8 scoring run that was capped off by a Jackson dunk at 8:07, which gave Indiana a 107-88 lead. Jackson had himself a quarter as he led the team with nine points on 4-of-4 shooting to go along with four rebounds in the final frame.
At this point, Indiana had become unstoppable as they propelled themselves to as much as a 22-point lead and outscored the Knicks, 23-13, by the 4:40 minute mark. Indiana shot 76.9 percent (10-of-13) from the floor in the first roughly seven minutes of fourth-quarter action while holding New York to just three buckets on 12 attempts.
Indiana’s dominance came to a halt when a 15-5 Knicks scoring run cut New York’s deficit to 12 points at the 1:39 minute mark. But the Pacers held on as New York never cut any closer than 12 points for the remainder of the matchup.
The shorthanded Knicks, who only played eight players, were led by Brunson’s 39 points on 14-of-25 shooting from the floor and 10-of-10 shooting from the charity stripe. Burks followed behind with 22 points, while Achiuwa recorded 15 points on a perfect 6-of-6 shooting clip.
Inside the Numbers
The Pacers shot 61 percent (50-of-82) from the floor and made 14 of 29 3-point attempts.
Led by Haliburton’s 12 assists, Indiana dished out 30 assists to New York’s 16 assists.
Indiana outrebounded the fourth-best rebounding team in the league, 41-32.
The Blue and Gold outscored the Knicks in the paint, 62-54.
Myles Turner led the six Pacers in double-figures as he racked up 23 points on a perfect 9-of-9 shooting clip.
Tyrese Haliburton logged his 2,000th career assist in the third quarter.
You Can Quote Me On That
“It’s a great win. It’s Madison Square Garden on a Saturday night, it’s a hard place to play regardless of who’s out there.” – Carlisle on the win
“I think that was the frustrating part last year, having to sit on the bench and watch, not being able to help contribute at the end of the game. I feel like this team depends on me to close games and I’ve kind of built my reputation of closing games. To have that opportunity to do that on a nightly basis is one I don’t take for granted. Just glad I’m feeling healthier every game.” -Haliburton on being able to close games
“It’s important to get a road win like this at this juncture. It builds confidence, our team has changed now. We have McDermott now, and Hield is gone. And so, we have a different set up now. Our rotations we’ll figure out pretty quickly here, but we need everybody.” -Carlisle on recent roster changes
“We feel like we’re kind of as complete as we are health wise. We just got a lot of different guys contributing. We just want to be our healthiest and playing our best come April, want to be ready to play in the playoffs. Just trying to build on a nightly basis.” -Haliburton on the health of the team
“One characteristic that all great players have is resourcefulness, and the ability in a split second to invent something special. And he did just that. It’s just special stuff.” -Carlisle on Haliburton’s backboard to assist play
“Isaiah and Jalen push each other hard, they work hard together, but they really pull for each other when it comes to the team. And so right now, Jalen’s really pulling for Isaiah, and Isaiah’s stayed ready. Really good stuff there.” -Carlisle on Isaiah’s impact with Jalen Smith injured
Stat of the Night
From the get-go, it was clear that Indiana was on fire. After shooting 70.6 percent in the first frame, Indiana also shot 70 percent (14-of-20) in the final frame and ended the matchup 61 percent (50-of-82) from the floor. On the other end of the floor, New York struggled to get into a rhythm and shot just 47.6 (40-of-84) from the floor.
Noteworthy
- With the win tonight, Indiana won the season series with the Knicks, 2-1.
- With his 12th assist of the night in the third quarter, Tyrese Haliburton logged his 2,000th career assist. With his 22 points tonight, Haliburton is now one point away from 4,000 career points.
- After being traded to Indiana Feb. 8, Doug McDermott suited up in a Pacers uniform for the first time since his three-year stint from 2018-21 and earned seven minutes of playing time.
- Jalen Smith did not play in tonight’s game while suffering lower back spasms. He will also not play in the Pacers’ next two games.
Up Next
The Pacers travel to Charlotte to take on the Hornets on Monday, Feb. 12 at 7:00 PM ET.
Originally posted on pacers.com