The Knicks took their worst loss of the season to the woeful Pacers in overtime
Last year, the Pacers handed the Knicks their worst loss at Madison Square Garden. It was for a different reason this time, but the Knicks’ worst loss of the year at MSG so far has come to the Pacers again.
A lot has changed since the last time these two teams met at this stadium.
Without Tyrese Haliburton, the Pacers – who have taken a gap year since opening night – now have the worst record in the East.
After two years in a row the Knicks were eliminated from the playoffs, they will not be a threat in this postseason.
Meanwhile, the Knicks have won nine of their last ten games.
But some things don’t change.
The Pacers, despite a bad season, still own the Knicks, falling 137-134 in overtime on Tuesday night in the semifinal game before the All-Star break.
However, the Pacers gave the Knicks a second chance.
They went up three with 6.2 seconds left, intentionally fouling Michael Bridges.
He did both, then fouled Pascal Siakam at the other end with 5.2 seconds left. Siakam made one of two, meaning the Knicks were down just two.
Landry Shamet missed his 3-pointer at the end, but Karl-Anthony Towns was fouled by Aaron Nesmith while going for a rebound.
And Towns calmly made both free throws to send the game into overtime.
The Pacers scored the first nine points of overtime, however.
As the fans began to leave, the Knicks went on a 10-2 run, capped by a Jalen Brunson 3-pointer, to cut the deficit to one with 5.1 seconds left. But it wasn’t enough.
Quenton Jackson hit both free throws, the Pacers intentionally fouled Shamet, who missed both free throws, on the other hand, and the Knicks’ embarrassing loss was over.
If there’s one thing these two teams do well, it’s create chaos. There were 39 lead changes – the most of any NBA game this year.
Every time you blinked, another Pacers shooter had a wide open 3-pointer.
The Knicks’ strong defense that had fueled their resurgence completely failed, allowing the Pacers to shoot 51.5 percent from the field and 40.0 percent from three-point range.
The three offensive players of the Knicks – Aaron Nesmith, Aaron Nembhard and Siakam did a lot of damage late in the game. It didn’t help that Brunson, the NBA’s reigning Clutch Player of the Year, was out of sorts at a crunch time.
Aaron Nesmith scored on consecutive possessions to give the Pacers a three-point lead with more than three minutes left in regulation.
After a bucket from Bridges, Nemhard made a layup to restore the lead to three points.
Two possessions later, it was Siakam who sent up and scored.
Then, with the Pacers up by just one, Siakam hit a layup over Josh Hart to put the Pacers up with 12.7 seconds left.
Brunson had two chances to give the Knicks the lead, both of which the Knicks lost 120-121. He missed a 3-pointer with 1:02 left and a midrange jumper with 33.7 seconds left.
With 10.8 seconds left, he missed another three-pointer that would have tied the game.
Towns picked up his third offensive foul — and another fifth foul — by hooking Jay Huff with 9:06 left in regulation and was quickly ejected from Ariel Hukporti.
He sat on the bench until 3:07. With 2:14 left in overtime, he fouled out after being called for an illegal screen, his fourth foul of the game.
With Shamet starting the injured OG Anunoby, and without Miles McBride or Mitchell Robinson, the Knicks bench was thin and outscored by 25 points by the Pacers bench.
Tuesday was the first meeting between the two MSG teams since Game 5 of the Eastern Conference final last year.
They squared off earlier in the season, when the Knicks escaped with a one-point win at Indiana.
Two matchups, two points that do not come close to indicating the place of the two teams in the table. As bad as they are, the Pacers continue to have the Knick’s number.
