Game Rewind: Pacers 84, Knicks 92

After knocking off the Philadelphia 76ers at home, the Pacers took to the road once again in search of their first three-game win streak of the season. The three-game road stint started with a trip to Madison Square Garden to take on the slumping New York Knicks.

However, it looked as if Indiana (6-9) was the team in the slump tonight. The Blue & Gold shot a season-low 37.2 percent from the field as they fell, 92-84, to New York (8-6).

"We had three really good defensive quarters," Rick Carlisle said postgame. "But, in the fourth, we couldn't get the ball in the hole."

Suffering from multiple scoring droughts, Indiana scored only 10 points in the fourth quarter on 2-of-20 shooting. The Knicks tallied 23.

Malcolm Brogdon led the way for Indiana with 22 points but went 9-of-20 from the floor. Domantas Sabonis added 21 and 15 boards. However, he missed a few easy put-backs late that could have changed the game. Caris LeVert tallied 17 as the third and final Pacer in double figures. Knicks bench player Immanuel Quickley tied Kemba Walker with a team-high 16. He made all four of his shots from deep.

"I felt like we did a good job at the end of the day," Sabonis said about the defense. "I feel like if we would've just come around on offense, it would've been a completely different fourth quarter."

Neither team started particularly hot over the early moments of the first. However, they were highlighted by a few individual efforts. The first eight Knicks points belonged to Walker as the Pacers' defense clamped down on New York's other starters. After LeVert knocked in two early buckets, Sabonis led a personal 7-2 run to give Indiana an 11-8 lead at the 7:11 mark.

The score remained the same over the next 2:18 as both sides struggled to find open shots. New York finally broke the drought using two buckets from 2020-21 All-Star Julius Randle. Evan Fournier's jumper with 3:52 to go then regained a 14-13 lead for the hosts.

But Indiana's defense kept up its prowess down the stretch. The squad held the Knicks scoreless over the final 2:57 of the frame. Meanwhile, the offense managed five points, including an impressive and-one finish from Goga Bitadze off a feed from Sabonis, to take a 20-16 lead into the second.

The Knicks started the second with eight straight points, including back-to-back threes from Quickley, to take a four-point edge with 9:09 to play. It was the first two triples Indiana had allowed.

The run allowed New York to hold a lead over the next few minutes. But Indiana was not far behind. The Knicks found success in the paint, finding open lanes after forcing the Pacers to heavily rotate.

Starting at the 3:41 mark, the teams alternated one-point leads four times. Justin Holiday's jumper with 3:07 to play pushed Indiana ahead 39-38. However, Randle responded with five straight, including his first 3-pointer, to regain a four-point advantage.

The Knicks threatened to pull away further after Taj Gibson's block on Sabonis led to a three by Fournier on the other end. However, the squad responded with back-to-back threes in the final 36.1 seconds to close the half with a 49-48 lead.

Trailing 52-51 early in the third, Indiana knocked in seven straight, including a tough left-handed floater by Sabonis over Mitchell Robinson, to take a 58-52 lead with 9:24 left.

Despite a Knicks timeout, the run continued immediately. LeVert converted a tough and-one finish in the paint to stretch the lead to nine. Myles Turner then knocked in his first bucket, a baseline trey, to extend it to 12. In all, the run was 13 unanswered before Walker stopped it with a layup inside.

Over the next few minutes, Indiana controlled a comfortable lead. However, the Knicks began threatening a bit after RJ Barrett started getting hot. Two threes — his first points of the game — from the former Duke star in 14 seconds cut the Pacers' lead to 70-62 with 4:45 left in the period.

From there, the Pacers scored just four more points for the remainder of the quarter. However, the defense held New York in check. After Kelan Martin's layup stretched the Pacers’ lead to eight with 2:05 to play, the Knicks managed just one field goal, a 3-pointer from Alec Burks, to cut the lead to 74-69 entering the fourth.

It was another defensive start to the fourth. But the Knicks managed to knot things up at 74 with a three from Quickley at the 8:52 mark. With 7:15 to play, New York took its first lead of the second half, after Burke hit 2-of-3 from the charity stripe.

The Pacers quickly regained the lead nine seconds later after Brogdon ran the floor and hit another tough layup. LeVert then followed with a pair of free throws to extend the lead to 82-79 with 5:48 to play.

However, the Knicks responded with eight unanswered, including another triple from Quickley, to take an 87-82 lead with 3:26 to go. During the run, the Pacers shot 0-for-5 from the field.

Indiana broke a 3:53 scoring drought after LeVert knocked in a pair of free throws with 1:55 remaining. The freebies cut Indiana's deficit to 87-84. With just over a minute to play, Sabonis had a chance to cut it to one. But his tip-in attempt was too strong. Derrick Rose then hit a driving floater with 57 seconds left to stretch the lead back to five.

The Pacers then had two decent looks from deep, but they just did not fall. A 3-pointer by Barrett with 19.8 seconds remaining then slammed the door shut for good. The 84 points were a season-low for the Blue & Gold, who have the Detroit Pistons up next.

On a positive note, Indiana gave up a season-low nine turnovers on Monday while forcing 12.

Myles Turner scored a season-low three points on 1-of-4 shooting. He did collect two more blocks, extending his NBA-leading season total to 49.

The Pacers' bench was outscored 44-13.

"Physical play. I thought their aggression made it tough on us. We had some good looks that didn't go down. And we had others that were not good. We were up against the shot clock a couple of times." –Carlisle on the difference tonight

"We're a tough team. In the past, we've out-toughed New York. Tonight, they out-toughed us. I take away that we still have growth, we still have to evolve, get better, and be tougher on a consistent basis." –Brogdon on his takeaways from the game

“We're still learning. I’m still getting healthy. This is our third/fourth game where we're all healthy. So I think overall we're pleased. We wanted to get the win. But it happens." –LeVert's thoughts on his and the Pacers' progress

Indiana missed its final 13 shots of the game. They did not score a field goal after Brogdon's layup with 7:06 remaining.

The Pacers head to Detroit for their first meeting of the season with their Central Division rivals on Wednesday, Nov. 17 at 7:00 PM ET.

The Pacers will return from a three-game road trip to host the New Orleans Pelicans at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Saturday, Nov. 20 at 7:00 PM ET. Find Tickets »