Last season, the Pacers handed the Knicks their worst loss at Madison Square Garden. It was for a different reason this time around, but the worst Knicks loss this season at MSG came against the Pacers yet again.
So much has changed since the last time these two teams met in this arena.
Without Tyrese Haliburton, the Pacers — who have essentially taken a gap year since opening night — now own the worst record in the East.
After two straight years eliminating the Knicks in the playoffs, they will be no threat this postseason. The Knicks, meanwhile, entered having won nine of their last 10 games.
But some things haven’t changed.
The Pacers, despite a nightmare season, still own the Knicks, who fell 137-134 in overtime Tuesday night in the penultimate game before the All-Star break.
“Regardless of what their record is, they’re great,” Jalen Brunson said. “Great coach, they do everything well, they play hard, they play to the last second. Those qualities that they have, they’re gonna play every single night, regardless of what the record is.”
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The Pacers, though, gave the Knicks a second chance.
Up three with 6.2 seconds left, they intentionally fouled Mikal Bridges. He made both free throws, then fouled Pascal Siakam on the other end with 5.2 seconds left. Siakam made just one of two, meaning the Knicks were down just two.
Landry Shamet missed his 3-pointer on the end, but Karl-Anthony Towns was fouled by Aaron Nesmith while going for the rebound.
And Towns calmly made both free throws to send the game to overtime.
The Pacers scored the first nine points of overtime, however. On cue, after fans had begun to leave, the Knicks went on a 10-2 run. A Jalen Brunson 3-pointer cut the deficit to one point with 5.1 seconds left. But it wasn’t enough. The Knicks fouled Quenton Jackson, who hit both free throws, the Pacers intentionally fouled Shamet, who missed both free throws, on the other end, and an embarrassing Knicks loss was complete.
If there is one thing these two teams do well, it’s create chaos. There were 39 lead changes — the most in any NBA game this year.
Every time you blinked, another Pacers shooter had a wide-open 3-pointer. The dominant Knicks defense that had powered their resurgence completely disappeared, allowing the Pacers to shoot 51.5 percent from the field and 40 percent from 3-point range.
A trio of Knicks villains — Aaron Nesmith, Andrew Nembhard and Siakam — did the most damage late in the game. Siakam finished with 30 points, Nembhard had 24 and Nesmith added 11. Jackson also recorded 19 points for the Pacers.
“We didn’t reach that standard of defense that we’ve shown in recent games,” Towns said. “And it came back to bite us today.”
It didn’t help that Brunson, the NBA’s reigning Clutch Player of the Year, was uncharacteristically off in crunch time.
He had two chances to give the Knicks the lead, both with his team down 120-121. He missed a 3-pointer with 1:02 left and missed a midrange jumper with 33.7 seconds left. Then with 10.8 seconds left, he missed another 3-pointer that would have tied the game.
“I thought Jalen down the stretch had some pretty good looks and got to the spots he normally gets to but he just came up short,” coach Mike Brown said. “We got the ball where we needed to get the ball. We got the looks that we wanted to look for during that time. Sometimes they just don’t go in and tonight was one of those nights.”
Towns picked up his third offensive foul — and fifth total foul — for hooking Jay Huff with 9:06 left in regulation and was immediately taken out for Ariel Hukporti. He was on the bench until 3:07 left. Then with 2:14 left in overtime, he fouled out after being called for an illegal screen, his fourth offensive foul of the game.
Tuesday was the first meeting between these two teams at MSG since Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals last year. They squared off earlier in the season, when the Knicks escaped with a one-point win in Indiana.
Two matchups, two scorelines that are not close to indicative of their spots in the standings.
No matter how bad they are, the Pacers continue to have the Knicks’ number.