The Knicks left their shooting problems in 2020, maintained a strong defense and found their final touch.
Coming off a brutal shooting night on New Year’s Eve against the Raptors in Tampa, the Knicks withdrew and relied late on their defense to close out the Pacers to win 106-102 on Saturday night at the Bankers Life Fieldhouse.
After briefly losing the lead in the middle of the fourth quarter, the Knicks (3-3) used an 11-0 stretch and finished the game in a 13-6 run to secure the win.
“That’s what it’s all about: what we need to do to get a win, that’s all that matters,” said Julius Randle, who arrived with a big late steal that caused a dive during the decisive race. “We did a great job getting stops during the stretch and then on the offensive end, playing only with each other.”
RJ Barrett, who was one of the main culprits during a cold night of shooting on Thursday, rediscovered his slot and led the way with 25 points. Randle started a tough start on Saturday (remained goalless until the final minute of the first half) and finished with 12 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists.
Randle’s defense against Domantas Sabonis, Mitchell Robinson’s big night (16 points, nine rebounds) and an aggressive Elfrid Payton (19 points) helped the Knicks dominate the Pacers (4-2) in the paint, beating them. 56-26 and bouncing them 51-32.
“That was a big concern, the way they get the ball into the paint and score,” coach Tom Thibodeau said. “It simply came to our notice then. … [The Pacers put] a huge pressure on your defense. It requires doing more than one thing, so there are often two, three, four, five efforts in a play and that’s what it takes to win. “
Sabonis added 32 points in the Pacers ’season win over the Knicks, but stayed at 13 points Saturday night. Malcolm Brogdon caught fire from downtown, leading the Pacers with 33 points, but the Knicks didn’t let him ruin his strong defensive effort.
After firing a brutal 3-on-36 from outside the arc in Thursday’s loss, the Knicks started Saturday’s game 3-for-4 from depth and finished 12-on-27.
Barrett exhausted the first 3 he scored in the first quarter, getting a 21-yard break in a row from beyond the arc during his previous four games. He got it 2-for-2 minutes later, picking up where he left off Indiana after shooting 3-for-3 from the start of the season.
After Barrett’s 0-on-8 demonstration on Thursday, he spent an hour on the Tampa court making more shots. He seemed to help him get him out of funk as he finished shooting Saturday 4 on 5 of 3 on Saturday.
“I just worked hard, but I really fired the same shots as the last couple games,” Barrett said. “They came in tonight.”
Although Randle didn’t score until he sank a throw with 43 seconds left in the first half – after starting 0-0 for 6 with four losses and four assists – Robinson helped take the lead. The center was active around the edge, clearing offensive rebounds and going 6 for 6 for 12 points in the first half.
The Knicks got a 51-50 lead at the break, but came out strong to start the third quarter, setting the tone for how they would end the game in the back of their defense.
“We feel like we give ourselves a chance to win every night and that’s what we’ve done so far,” Randle said. “The most important thing is to finish the games. Entering the third quarter, I tried to let the guys know that Indiana was a huge third quarter team. … So we had to come in aggressive, come in and fight and that’s what we did. ”