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Sloppy Fourth Quarter Dooms Knicks, Fall To Pacers
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Granger and TJ Ford lead the way for the Pacers as they notch their first win of the season.
The New York Knicks have played excellent fourth quarters so far this season. So when they headed to the final frame in tonight's game against the Pacers with a one point lead, you thought it was time for the Knicks to put the winless Pacers away.
But what happened was an encore of their terrible first quarters from the first three games of the season.
The Knicks playing an undermanned Pacer team, shot a dismal 2 for 19 from the field while being outscored 28-15 and fell to the Pacers 101-89. It was the Pacers first win of the season while the loss drops the Knicks to 1-4. The Knicks were held without a field goal in the final nine minutes of the game while scoring only 33 second half points.
Danny Granger led the way for the Pacers scoring 21 points, 4 assists, and 4 steals. Dahntay Jones, starting for the injured Troy Murphy provided an athletic presence for the Pacers and finished with 19 points and 12 rebounds.
Roy Hibbert was a key contributor in the win as well playing more minutes than he is used to with Murphy injured. He added 15 points and 14 rebounds while making it very difficult for any Knick to drive down the lane and score some easy baskets.
Al Harrington led the Knicks in scoring with 22 points. David Lee continued his consistant play contributing 20 points while grabbing 19 rebounds. But as a team, the Knicks struggled on offense shooting only 39.5 percent for the game. The Knicks starting backcourt of Chris Duhon and Larry Hughes combined to shoot a putrid 6 of 23.
Things started very well for the Knicks and not so good for the Pacers.The Pacers committed seven turnovers in the first quarter looking like a team playing it in back to back nights. The Knicks could not take more of an advantage as they shot under 40 percent for the quarter and led 25-21 after one.
The offense picked up in the second quarter as the Knicks would shoot 62 percent and led 56-50 with Al Harrington scoring 10 of his 22 points in the second.
New York would continue their strong play in the third quarter as they would extend the lead to as many as seven. But the Pacers picked it up over the final two minutes of the quarter by scoing the final 6 points and trailed by one heading to the final frame.
After a Roy Hibbert basket tied the game at 76 early in the fourth, the Knicks would miss consecutive three point shots by Hughes and Chandler. Danny Granger would capitalize and hit a three pointer to give the Pacers the lead for good. Wilson Chandler would follow with a jumper with 9:20 left made to make it a one-point game, but the Knicks would not hit another shot after that.
The Knicks would stay in it by getting to the free throw line hitting on 11-14 after only getting to the line four times through the first three quarters. A very good indicator that the Knicks main offense was only the jumpshot.
When Granger fouled out with the Pacers up 91-87, it looked like Indiana might be vulnerable without its leading scorer and that the Knicks would find a way to steal this game right back. But it was T.J Ford time as he hit a big fadeway jumper to extend it to a 93-87 lead. He would score six more points to open up a 99-89 lead and give them the win.
Final Thought
What can you say about this game? After the great performance on Monday night, the Knicks play a pathetic second half that saw them get outscored 51-33. You can't get outscored like that in your home building to a team that is looking for their first win and have two of their top scorer's out of the game. It is inexcusable and shows the lack of progress they made from Monday night's game.
Danillo Gallinari was no where in sight in that pitiful second half. I understand he has played a bunch of minutes so far but with the team struggling on offense in the final quarter, D' Antoni has got to get his jump shooter out there. This was a game the Knicks really needed to win and should have. The Pacers had been awful so far losing by double digits in every game so far this season and is playing the second game of back to back nights. The Pacers turned the ball over 20 times, including 7 in the first six minutes of the game! They should have ran Indina out the building the way the pacers were playing.
But these are the Knicks and inconsistency is the name of their game. Chris Duhon played as poor game as you can get. I am getting tired of seeing him drive around the basket and do nothing with it. He just goes under the basket and dribbles back to the top. He is obviously not going to be the long term answer at the point guard position. T. J ford ate him up for breakfest in the final quarter.
It was nice to see Al Harrington get to the basket as much as he could and drawing a foul every time he did. With no Troy Murphy in the game, you got to wonder why the Knicks did not get to the free throw line more. When the team's leading rebounder is not playing, shooting only four free throw's through three quarters is unacceptable.
Things won't get any easier for the Knicks, who host LeBron and Shaq on Friday with the prospect of dropping to 1-5 with another loss.
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