The Knicks left their shooting battles in 2020, conveying a strong defense and finding their finishing touch.
The Knicks came down against the Raptors in Tampa on New Year’s Eve, and the Knicks bounced back and leaned on their defense late to shut down the Pacers for a 106-102 victory Saturday night at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.
After losing the lead briefly in the fourth quarter, the Knicks (3-3) used an 11-0 record and finished the game on a 13-6 run to secure the victory.
“That’s what it’s about – whatever we have to do to win, that’s the only thing that matters,” said Julius Randle. He came up late with a big steal that led to a dunk during the deciding run. “We did our best to get stopped at the end and then play offensive and just play for each other.”
RJ Barrett, who was among the biggest culprits during a cold shooting night Thursday, rediscovered his groove and took the lead by 25 points. Randle shook off a rough start on Saturday – he was pointless until the last minute of the first half – and finished with 12 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists.
Randle’s defense on Domantas Sabonis, the big night of Mitchell Robinson (16 points, nine rebounds) and an aggressive Elfrid Payton (19 points) helped the Knicks dominate the Pacers (4-2) in the paint and they with 56-26 outwit and turn out. they 51-32.
“It was a big concern, the way they get the ball in the paint and can score there,” coach Tom Thibodeau said. “It’s all together. … [The Pacers put] enormous pressure on your defense. It requires you to do more than one thing, so often there are two, three, four, five attempts at one play and that is what is needed to win. ”
Sabonis scored 32 points in the Pacers victory over the Knicks season, but was kept at 13 points on Saturday night. Malcolm Brogdon caught fire from downtown, leading the Pacers by 33 points, but the Knicks did not allow themselves to spoil their otherwise strong defensive effort.
After shooting a brutal 3-for-36 from outside the arc in Thursday’s loss, the Knicks started Saturday’s game 3-for-4 from deep and finished 12-for-27.
Barrett drained the first three he took in the first quarter and broke a 21-yard move straight from outside the arc over his previous four games. He made it 2-for-2 minutes later, where he stopped in Indiana, after shooting 3-for-3 from deep into the season opener.
After Barrett’s 0-for-8 performance Thursday of 3, he spent an hour on the track in Tampa putting up more shots. It was apparently helping to get him out of his funk when he made it 4-for-5 from 3 on Saturday.
“I just did extra work, but I really shot the same shots that I did the last few games,” Barrett said. “They went in tonight.”
Although Randle did not score until he was 43 seconds left in the first half – after starting 0-for-6 with four times and four assists, Robinson helped to catch up. The center was active around the edge and cleared offensive rebounds, scoring 12 points for 6 points in the first half.
The Knicks trailed 51-50 at halftime, but came out strong to start the third quarter and set the tone for the way they would complete the game due to their defense.
“We feel like every night we have a chance to win, and that’s what we’ve done so far,” Randle said. ‘The biggest thing is to finish games. In the third quarter, I tried to let the guys know that Indiana is a great team in the third quarter. … So we had to aggressively come in, come in and fight and that’s what we did. ‘