Knicks takeaways from Saturday’s 140-126 loss to Pacers, including unable to stop Indiana's offense

After the Knicks made a team-altering deal earlier in the day, New York simply couldn't stop the Pacers' high-powered offense as they fell 140-126.

In addition to RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley being traded to Toronto, Quentin Grimes was also ruled out with a non-COVID illness. That left the Knicks with only 10 available players. Despite that, the Knicks held their own but wound up finishing this three-game road trip without a win.

Here are the takeaways….

-Despite being shorthanded, the Knicks got out to a quick nine-point lead thanks to some superb three-point shooting. New York started 5-of-7 from downtown, including two made from Donte DiVincenzo. The Knicks made just six three points in Friday’s loss to the Magic.

However, some turnovers, poor shooting and bad transition defense allowed Indiana to go on a 15-4 run to take a five-point lead after the first quarter. DiVincenzo led the team with eight points while Josh Hart, starting for Barrett, picked up seven rebounds to go along with his five points in the opening frame.

-The second quarter saw faces like Evan Fournier and Miles McBride get the bulk of the minutes. You could see the rust from both players as they were a bit slow on the defensive side. That was the issue with the Knicks, again, for New York as the Pacers used their patented fastbreak offense to keep their slim 64-62 lead.

At halftime, Julius Randle and DiVincenzo had 15 points apiece while Jalen Brunson added 13 of his own. The Pacers shot 60 percent in the first half, including 50 percent from three (10-20). Coming off his 20-assist performance in his last game, Tyrese Haliburton entered halftime with 12 assists.

- The Knicks would take a three-point lead in the third, but the Pacers' offense continued to shoot lights out in the third quarter, building to their largest lead up to this point (15). Indiana's players had way too many wide-open threes and the threes started to not fall for the Knicks. Aaron Nesmith was the main offender, hitting four threes in the quarter. they shot 14-for-24 including 8-of-13 from three.

Every time the Knicks chipped away at Indiana's lead, the Pacers would make a three or New York missed free throws. Indiana finished making 60 percent of their shots including 55 percent from three. The Knicks finished shooting 47 percent and 46 percent from downtown.

- Fournier made just his second appearance of the season -- the last being on Nov. 17-- and had a rough start, missing his first five threes but making his next two. It was evident the shooter needed some time to find his range and mesh with the rest of the offense. Fournier finished with 10 points on 3-of-10 shooting (2-8 from three) in 17 minutes.

McBride was the backup point guard to Brunson with Quickley gone and played admirably in limited minutes.  He had five points in 16 minutes.

- DiVincenzo, coming off possibly his worst game as a Knick, had the best game of his career. The Villanova product scored a career-high 38 points and tied a career-high with seven threes. He went 7-of-11 from three with six rebounds, two assists and four steals.

Randle added 28 points and 12 rebounds along with four assists. Brunson had 28 points as well, to go with his six assists.

- A day after coach Tom Thibodeau criticized the officials for Brunson not getting foul calls, the guard went to the line seven times but went just 6-of-9 from the charity strike. The Knicks were 19-of-27 while the Pacers shot 17-of-21 from the line.

- Former Knick Obi Toppin gave the Pacers 20 minutes off the bench and contributed. He finished with nine points, eight rebounds, two assists and three blocks. He was also battling Randle down in the post a lot in this game.

Haliburton finished with 22 points, 23 assists (a career-high). He's just the third player in history to have back-to-back 20-point, 20-assist games. The other two were John Stockton and Magic Johnson.

Highlights

What’s next

The Knicks return home to take on the Western Conference-leading Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday, Jan. 1 at 3 p.m.

It’ll likely be the Knick debuts of OG Anunoby, Malachi Flynn and Precious Achiuwa.