Knicks' cold shooting hands Pacers first win
Photo credit: AP | Indiana Pacers' Dahntay Jones (1) drives past New York Knicks' Danilo Gallinari during the second half. (November 4, 2009)
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Nov. 4: Pacers 101, Knicks 89
The words were the only ones on the grease board in the Knicks locker room. It was a simple message that seemed to suggest to the players that the coaching staff saw this as one of those rare winnable games they will see this season. The Pacers were spanked at home the night before and playing without three rotation players.
So, aside from the usual scouting report reminders, all the Knick players needed to consider was the challenge laid before them:
"We will score at will if we run and move the ball," the message read. Then, in red marker, came the challenge: "Can we stop them?"
After an uninspiring 101-89 loss that gave the Pacers (1-3) their first win of the season, Mike D'Antoni spoke carefully. Perhaps the fly on the wall in his video room today will hear more candid material.
"I don't want to say something just because I'm ticked off," he said. "That's not right. I need to look at it and assess it."
David Lee had 20 points and 19 rebounds and Al Harrington had 22 points and nine rebounds for the Knicks (1-4). Danny Granger led Indiana with 21 points.
A simple breakdown reveals obvious signs of an alarming lack of intensity from D'Antoni's Knicks. As the Pacers stumbled through 13 first-half turnovers, the Knicks maxed out a few eight-point leads but could not step on the throttle when the game was there for the taking. The largest lead was nine points, twice in the third quarter. The last came on a Chris Duhon runner with 9:14 left in the third to make it 66-57.
It was 74-67 after a Danilo Gallinari jumper with 2:56 left in the third. The Knicks, who are owned by Cablevision, which also owns Newsday, would score only 15 points the rest of the way.
The most notable statistic, aside from the 27.8-percent shooting in the second half and 2-for-17 effort in the fourth quarter, was that the Knicks had attempted only four free throws up until 8:27 left in the final quarter. "Really," D'Antoni said as he stared at the stat sheet. "That's not good."
Wilson Chandler did not attempt a single free throw. In fact, Harrington (11-for-13) made up the bulk of the 14-for-18 the Knicks shot in the game.
The Knicks had six straight empty possessions in the fourth. They did not make a field goal in the final nine minutes of the game.
As for defense? Let it be known that the entire league has this on their scouting report: Go to the basket against the Knicks. Interior defense remains the greatest weakness and it showed on the countless putbacks by Roy Hibbert (15 points, 14 rebounds) and drives by Dahntay Jones (19 points, 12 rebounds).
D'Antoni tried to explain the malaise. "I don't know if it was a question of trying a little bit too hard, " he said, but his eyes told you he didn't believe his own words. He ended the thought with "we're going to have to do a hell of a lot better job than this."
