Knicks lose to Pacers in Billups' return

The Knicks had their Big Three back intact, but this game wasn't about having more talent, it was about having less effort. The return of Chauncey Billups to the lineup failed to provide a much-needed spark as the Knicks dropped an ugly 106-93 decision to the Indiana Pacers Sunday night at the Garden.

A foul-plagued Amar'e Stoudemire (28 points) was outworked by Tyler Hansbrough and had his nose bloodied by Jeff Foster. Carmelo Anthony (25 points, 9-for-22 shooting) was manhandled by tough defense from Dahntay Jones. And Billups (nine points, 4-for-14 from the field) looked rusty after missing the previous six games with a deep thigh bruise.

Stoudemire and Anthony struggled with foul trouble and were frustrated by a lack of whistles in their favor. Anthony went as far as to say that the officials let Jones "beat me up tonight. It happens. You have nights like that where they don't blow the whistle or the whistle doesn't go your way. Tonight was one of those nights."

Anthony and the Knicks (34-31) will find out if the game will be called the same way Tuesday in Indiana when they complete this home-and-home series. With 17 games left, the Knicks remain in sixth place in the Eastern Conference with a half-game lead over the seventh-place 76ers. They are 31/2 games behind the fifth-place Hawks.

"It's not the time for us to hang our heads and mope around," Anthony said of the Knicks' second straight loss. "We've got to figure this thing out and get going."

Hansbrough finished with a career-high 29 points and eight rebounds to lead Indiana (28-38), which snapped a six-game losing streak and remained tied with Charlotte for the eighth and final playoff spot in the East with 16 games left. At one point, Stoudemire took a moment to slap five and pat the second-year forward on the hip to acknowledge his hustle.

"Tyler Hansbrough is a beast," Pacers interim coach Frank Vogel said. "Our young frontcourt had a great night."

Toney Douglas, who played so well in Billups' absence, had only three points and shot 1-for-12. The Knicks' point guards totaled only seven assists and Billups had four turnovers.

"We were just a little out of sync," Billups said.

Indiana went into the game as the third-worst shooting team in the league (43.8 percent) but shot a sizzling 60.5 percent from the field (23-for-38) in the first half to take a 54-46 lead. It wasn't as if the Pacers were scorching the nets from the perimeter. This was all about a lack of interior defense and effort by the Knicks, as the Pacers scored 28 points in the paint and shot 14-for-23 in the paint.

"They got it going early," Stoudemire said. "We didn't help ourselves out there. They got to the basket at will, finished with dunks. They shot the ball well."

The Pacers led by as many as 20 points in the third quarter, but the Knicks managed to close to within 10 points early in the fourth after a pair of free throws by Stoudemire with 10:37 remaining.

"The rhythm was not there," Mike D'Antoni said. "I don't know if it's the attention to details, the energy, but it just wasn't right. We were off-kilter on offense and that led to some easy frustrations and whatever."