Pacers-Knicks Preview

By JORDAN GARRETSON
Posted Nov 17 2012 2:51PM

After falling victim to frustration in their first loss of the season, the New York Knicks will look to channel their emotions a little differently.

They'll try to bounce back Sunday against the Indiana Pacers, who have struggled to score but seemed to find some answers following some offensive tweaks.

The Knicks (6-1) return home hoping to start a new winning streak while extending their impressive start at Madison Square Garden. They've won their first three home games, each by a double-digit margin.

New York lost 105-95 at Memphis on Friday. It was the team's fewest points scored and most points allowed this season as it finally became the NBA's last club to be beaten.

The Knicks were within three points early in the third quarter, but after J.R. Smith was involved in a double-technical situation with Jerryd Bayless in the second, tempers flared again. Carmelo Anthony, Rasheed Wallace and coach Mike Woodson were all tagged with technicals during a 19-1 Grizzlies run.

The team tallied only two assists and shot 7 of 18 in the third quarter.

"We tried to do it individually instead of just moving the ball," point guard Jason Kidd said. "Guys got great looks and they didn't go in. Emotion is part of the game. For the whole team, this is a test we can learn from."

The Knicks' rebounding has been a weakness all season, and it finally caught up with them on Friday as they were outrebounded for the sixth straight game.

Wallace's showing was a bright spot. He scored 13 points in 24 minutes - both season highs - after the veteran totaled 36 points in New York's first six games.

The Pacers (4-6) saw some increased offense across the board in Friday's 103-83 home win over Dallas. Indiana has sputtered all season without injured leading scorer Danny Granger, but it might have discovered something while getting a second victory in seven games and reaching the century mark for the second time in 2012-13.

David West and George Hill scored 15 points each after combining for 10 on 4-of-19 shooting in the previous game, a 99-85 loss at Milwaukee that was the Pacers' fifth straight road defeat.

"Coach (Frank Vogel) challenged us that we needed to change immediately," Hill said. "He came in with different types of offensive sets that kind of helps us as athletes, who we are on this team, young and athletic.

"I like the direction that we're going."

The Pacers averaged 17.1 turnovers in their first nine games, but gave the ball away a season-low nine times Friday while posting a season-high 23 assists. Their 47.0 percent shooting was their best since hitting 47.4 percent from the field in their season opener at Toronto - their most recent road victory.

"I didn't like guys standing around," Vogel said. "I didn't like the speed in which we were running our offense. I didn't like the lack of physicality in our screening. There was a lot to not like. So changes were needed."

Indiana trailed by as many as 32 while losing its only trip to New York last season, 115-100 on March 16.

Knicks bounce back from 1st loss, beat Pacers

By BRIAN MAHONEY
Posted Nov 18 2012 4:20PM

NEW YORK (AP) This was ugly, even before Jason Kidd's unfortunate headband style.

That's fine with the New York Knicks, who are winning even when they don't look good doing it.

Carmelo Anthony had 26 points and nine rebounds, and the Knicks bounced back from their first loss of the season, beating the Indiana Pacers 88-76 on Sunday.

"Last year we let this game slip away," center Tyson Chandler said. "It's definitely the maturity of the team and obviously the maturity of the players. We got a lot of vets around here that understand that these games add up. These are the games at the end of the year when you are in that dog fight and jockeying for position, these are the games that put you over or under."

JR Smith added 13 points and Raymond Felton had 11 for the Knicks in their only home game in a span of seven games. After falling 105-95 at Memphis on Friday, the Knicks (7-1) go right back on the road to start another three-game trip Tuesday in New Orleans.

Neither team shot 40 percent, but the Knicks, perhaps sluggish after a quick turnaround following Saturday morning's return home, built a big early lead, went up by as much as 20 and were never challenged.

"Today was one of them days where we had to do it on the defensive end," Anthony said. "Offensively we were trying to find it, shots that we missed that we normally make. But on the defensive end for us to be in sync the way we are right now, especially this early in the season, that's a good thing. We want to keep building on that."

The only thing they want to change is Kidd's wardrobe, after watching a cut on his head force him into the headband that had its own Twitter account by the end of the game.

"Not a good look," Anthony said. "Today he had to do what he had to do, but we're not going to allow that."

Paul George scored 20 points for the Pacers, who remained inept offensively as they played without leading scorer Danny Granger. They hoped they had broken out with an impressive 103-point performance against Dallas on Friday, but managed only 30 first-half points and committed 19 turnovers in the game.

"We turned the ball over way too much," George said. "When you look at it, we got 71 attempts and they got 90 attempts and when you are playing a team as dangerous as New York is, you give them 20 more shots, of course you are going to get the results you got."

David West added 14 points in Indiana's sixth straight road loss.

The Pacers came in allowing an NBA-low 90.3 points per game but often wasting that without Granger, who is expected to miss three months with a sore left knee. They were averaging 87.8 points, 28th in the league, but were nowhere near that against a Knicks team that's also good defensively.

"Our defense, you know, we've been No. 1 in the NBA right now defensively. We knew we could rely on that, but again, we've got to get more shots, better looks, more attempts and take care of the ball," George added.

The Knicks led 21-18 after one behind 12 points from Anthony, whose 5-of-9 shooting looked even more impressive next to the Pacers' 7 of 22 or the 3 of 15 the rest of his teammates combined to hit.

Kidd played only 3 minutes before he was hit in the head by Lance Stephenson's teeth after a pump fake and bloodied while attempting a 3-pointer. He put a headband over the wound so he could shoot the free throws, wearing it in a lopsided manner that was angled more like a bonnet, even laughing himself at how ugly it looked.

"Yeah, that's not my style," said the 39-year-old Kidd, wearing a bandage on the right side of his head. "I'll leave that to the guys who like the headband."

He made the shots, then went to the back to get seven stitches.

New York then held Indiana to 3-of-16 shooting (19 percent) and 12 points in the second. The Knicks led by as much as 12 in the period when Chandler threw down a lob pass from Felton and it was 41-30 at the break.

Kidd had a lane open for him in the third but botched the layup, adjusting the headband after the miss. The Pacers later had consecutive possessions with their own blown layup followed by an airball on a jumper.

Still, the Pacers made 10 of 14 shots in the third and trimmed what had been a 16-point deficit to nine late in the period. But Rasheed Wallace made a 3-pointer to end the third-quarter scoring, then opened the fourth with a basket and a dunk before Smith's jumper restored the 16-point advantage at 74-58 two minutes into the period.

Notes: Knicks coach Mike Woodson said the Knicks planned to send the NBA video of the flagrant foul that was assessed on Smith on Friday in hopes of getting it rescinded. Woodson said he "didn't think there was much there." Woodson was then hit with a technical foul 90 seconds into Sunday's game. ... Donnie Walsh, who has rejoined the Pacers, his longtime franchise, after spending three years as Knicks president from 2008-11, said the Knicks have put themselves in good position after the rebuilding process that he started. "I've already said they're a contending team, but to go any further you've got to do it. You can't talk about it, you've got to do it, and that's kind of where all the teams are," he said before the game.

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Follow Brian Mahoney on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/Briancmahoney

Notebook: Knicks 88, Pacers 76

Adam Zagoria, for NBA.com
Posted Sun Nov 18, 2012 3:01 PM - Updated Sun Nov 18, 2012 3:01 PM

THE FACTS: Carmelo Anthony scored a game-high 26 points to go with nine rebounds to lead the Knicks to an 88-76 victory over the Indiana Pacers at Madison Square Garden.

Raymond Felton added 11 points, eight assists and no turnovers and J.R. Smith tallied 13 points and seven rebounds off the bench. The Knicks (7-1) rebounded from Friday's loss at Memphis, their only blemish of the young season.

Paul George led the Pacers with 20 points and David West added 14 points and seven rebounds. Indiana (4-7) lost for the third time in four outings.

QUOTABLE: "Tonight we did what we had to do to win the game." -- Anthony on the MSG Network

THE STAT: Anthony has scored 20-plus points in seven of the team's eight games.

TURNING POINT: The Knicks seized control during a second quarter in which they outscored the Pacers, 20-12, behind Felton's seven points. That turned a 21-18 first-quarter lead into a 41-30 halftime bulge.

QUOTABLE II: "We're playing for something. We're trying to win our division and host a playoff series." -- Knicks coach Mike Woodson

WHO'S HOT: After going scoreless in the first half, fan favorite Rasheed Wallace scored nine points in the second, including a 3-pointer and a vicious one-handed dunk off a pass from Pablo Prigioni. He also grabbed seven boards.

WHO'S NOT: The Pacers' starting backcourt of George Hill and Lance Stephenson combined for 11 points on 4-for-16 shooting and 11 assists. The duo had combined for 27 points and 10 assists in Friday's win over Dallas.

QUOTABLE III: "Guys are buying in and they understand that if you do that [play defense] at a high level, you put yourself in position to win games." -- Woodson on holding the Pacers to 76 points

NOTABLE: Jason Kidd took seven stitches to the head after Stephenson fouled him in the first quarter when he ran out to defend Kidd on the wing. Wearing a tilted headband over the cut, Kidd returned in the second quarter and finished with three points and two assists in 23 minutes.

NOTABLE II: After receiving DNP's in the team's last two games, Marcus Camby returned to the Knicks' rotation and registered four rebounds, one block and no points in 13 minutes.

QUOTABLE IV: "Everybody should feel pretty good when we step out there on that floor in New Orleans on Tuesday. " -- Woodson

INSIDE THE ARENA: Grace Potter, Jessica White and Tracy Morgan were among those courtside.

UP NEXT: For the Knicks, Tuesday @ New Orleans, Wednesday @ Dallas, Friday @ Houston. For the Pacers, Monday @ Washington, Wednesday vs. Charlotte, Friday vs. Spurs.

• Pacers: Granger, Johnson
• Knicks: Shumpert, Stoudemire

• Pacers: --
• Knicks: Woodson

• Lead Changes: 2
• Times Tied: 2

• Arena: Madison Square Garden, New York, NY
• Officials: #17 Joe Crawford, #75 Eric Dalen, #36 David Jones
• Attendance: 19033
• Duration: 2:10