The New York Knicks (34–31) floundered against the Indiana Pacers (28–38) 106–93 on Sunday night at Madison Square Garden, allowing the Pacers to end their six-game losing streak.
Everything should have gone New York’s way with the return of Chauncey Billups to the starting lineup and the retention of Amar’e Stoudemire. Billups returned after sitting out six games with a bruised left quadriceps, and Stoudemire avoided an automatic one game suspension after the NBA rescinded his 16th technical foul committed in last Thursday’s game against the Dallas Mavericks.
But the Knicks proved sluggish from the start, with an incongruent offense transitioning into a porous defense that was unable to get stops.
The Pacers—who played team ball and tenacious defense throughout—led from the opening minutes with the exception of a brief one-point Knicks lead midway through the first quarter.
A 14-point Carmelo Anthony surge in the first quarter was impressive but demonstrated the Knicks’s inability to get everyone involved.
The Knicks scored a total of 21 points in the first quarter, with Stoudemire and Billups the only other Knicks to contribute offensively. The Pacers conversely had even scoring from their starters that ranged between 4 and 6 points apiece in the first quarter.
The scoring balanced out some for the Knicks in the second quarter with Anthony and Stoudemire each contributing six points and Shawne Williams draining a pair of 3-pointers that helped bring the Knicks within a few points midway through the quarter.
But the Pacers would pull their lead up to 54–46 at the half and never look back.
The third quarter featured a Pacers onslaught led by second-year forward Tyler Hansbrough with 13 points. The Pacers would pull up by as much as 20 points in the quarter as Stoudemire and Anthony watched from the bench because of foul trouble.
New York would end the quarter down 13 points on a small surge that came off a couple of 3-pointers; one of them from reserve guard Toney Douglas, who had shot 0–9 until that point.
Douglas proved himself offensively filling in for Billups during his recovery but was completely ineffective on Sunday from the bench. He finished the game shooting 1 of 12 in field goals including 1 of 8 from beyond the arc.
The Knicks were able to pull within 10 points early in the fourth quarter with coach Mike D'Antoni running the starting lineup, but that’s as close as they would get.
Everything should have gone New York’s way with the return of Chauncey Billups to the starting lineup and the retention of Amar’e Stoudemire. Billups returned after sitting out six games with a bruised left quadriceps, and Stoudemire avoided an automatic one game suspension after the NBA rescinded his 16th technical foul committed in last Thursday’s game against the Dallas Mavericks.
But the Knicks proved sluggish from the start, with an incongruent offense transitioning into a porous defense that was unable to get stops.
The Pacers—who played team ball and tenacious defense throughout—led from the opening minutes with the exception of a brief one-point Knicks lead midway through the first quarter.
A 14-point Carmelo Anthony surge in the first quarter was impressive but demonstrated the Knicks’s inability to get everyone involved.
The Knicks scored a total of 21 points in the first quarter, with Stoudemire and Billups the only other Knicks to contribute offensively. The Pacers conversely had even scoring from their starters that ranged between 4 and 6 points apiece in the first quarter.
The scoring balanced out some for the Knicks in the second quarter with Anthony and Stoudemire each contributing six points and Shawne Williams draining a pair of 3-pointers that helped bring the Knicks within a few points midway through the quarter.
But the Pacers would pull their lead up to 54–46 at the half and never look back.
The third quarter featured a Pacers onslaught led by second-year forward Tyler Hansbrough with 13 points. The Pacers would pull up by as much as 20 points in the quarter as Stoudemire and Anthony watched from the bench because of foul trouble.
New York would end the quarter down 13 points on a small surge that came off a couple of 3-pointers; one of them from reserve guard Toney Douglas, who had shot 0–9 until that point.
Douglas proved himself offensively filling in for Billups during his recovery but was completely ineffective on Sunday from the bench. He finished the game shooting 1 of 12 in field goals including 1 of 8 from beyond the arc.
The Knicks were able to pull within 10 points early in the fourth quarter with coach Mike D'Antoni running the starting lineup, but that’s as close as they would get.
Hansbrough led the Pacers with 29 points, while three other starters reached double-digit scoring.
The Knicks were lopsided in the scoring department with Stoudemire and Anthony scoring 28 points and 25 points, respectively, and Williams with 13 points—the only other player to reach double-digits . The team shot just 36 percent from the field compared to Indiana’s 57 percent.
Indiana will host New York on Tuesday in a home and home series.
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