Pacers 101, Knicks 89
1. Nothing came free for New York, literally. Halfway through the fourth quarter, the Knicks only attempted 10 foul shots – as opposed to Indiana’s 22. That’s what happens when you live and die by the jumper. Once again they weren’t sharp from 3, shooting 28 percent. This followed up Monday night’s 7-of-23 showing.
2. As large and menacing the Pacers’ bigs can be, they were ill-equipped to handle David Lee’s quickness. Lee gave 7-foot-2 Roy Hibbert and 6-foot-10 Solomon Jones fits all night. The fourth-year double-double machine nearly had that in the first quarter, with 10 points and seven rebounds. He finished with 22 points and 19 rebounds.
3. Al Harrington seems to be adjusting to his new role of bench sparkplug nicely. He registered his second-straight solid performance with 22 points, including 12 in the first half, and nine rebounds.
Key Stat:
Before fouling out, All-Star Danny Granger gave the Pacers its first lead since the second quarter, when he knocked down a straight-away 3 at 9:31. Indiana never relinquished the lead again. The loss is inexcusable when you consider the Pacers [1-3] came in winless and on the backend of a rough back-to-back, while New York was coming off an impressive win over perennial playoff contender, New Orleans.
Numbers:
Knicks president Donnie Walsh is in his second season as Knicks head man but he spent the previous 23 seasons in the Pacers front office under the same capacity.
Up Next: Cavs, Friday, home.
Injuries: Eddy Curry [torn right plantaris muscle]; Nate Robinson [sprained right ankle].
Stats: Surprisingly, the Knicks are struggling offensively, as they’re shooting 42% from the field.
Outlook: The circus comes to town and LeBron and Shaq are the ringleaders. Get ready for some intense “LeBron 2010!” chants from The Garden faithful. Knicks need to outrun the Cavs to have even the slimmest of chances.
