RJ Barrett returns, but Jalen Brunson key as Knicks beat Pacers

For the first time in more than a month the Knicks took the court Wednesday night at full strength, all of the roster pieces back in place as they hosted the Indiana Pacers to start the second half of the season in a battle for playoff positioning. 

That meant that RJ Barrett was back in the starting lineup. But whatever the configuration of the lineup, what the Knicks learned in the first half of the season is that when the pressure is on late, it is Jalen Brunson who holds the key to whatever the team hopes to achieve the rest of the way.

Barrett and Brunson got the Knicks started and helped build a 25-point lead. And when the lead was almost completely wiped out by a shorthanded Pacers squad, it was Brunson who delivered key baskets to save the Knicks from collapse as they escaped with a 119-113 win at Madison Square Garden.

"I think we stayed poised, finished out a game," Brunson said. "Obviously, we want to keep the lead and win comfortably. That team wasn’t going to quit. You have to give them a lot of credit. For us, we’ve just got to continue to hold leads better and find ways to keep our foot on the gas with a lead. It’s a work in progress for us but a win’s a win, especially against a team that we’re battling with for position."

The dagger came on a curious decision and a huge bucket from Quentin Grimes. Up three, Grimes took a pass ahead of the pack but passed on a layup and pulled the ball out, running down the clock. The decision proved correct as Immanuel Quickley drove and kicked the ball to him for a three-pointer that he drained with 21 seconds left.

"Yeah, it’s a lot of confidence," Brunson said about Grimes making the big shot. "A lot of confidence. I thought he had a layup but he said he wanted a three so he shot a three. That’s a lot of confidence by him."

Brunson finished with 34 points to lead the Knicks while Barrett added 27 in his first game since Dec. 27 and Grimes contributed 18 points — five after entering the fourth quarter with 1:15 remaining in the game.

on surviving this one against a team battling with:

"[Coach Tom Thibodeau] put an emphasis on it this morning in shootaround," Grimes said. "These are the games that are deal breakers later on in the season, because later on it could be a tiebreaker. If we go 2-2 — you don’t want that to happen, so you have to come out with a different kind of intensity and edge tonight, and we knew that coming in. I feel like that’s what we did early in the first half. Had our foot off the gas a little bit [in the second half] and then we kind of brought it back late in the fourth."

The Pacers entered the night in sixth place in the Eastern Conference, a game ahead of the Knicks, and had the added incentive of defending their floor leader, Tyrese Haliburton, who had gained perhaps as much notoriety for the on-air criticism from MSG Network analyst Wally Szczerbiak as he has gotten for his play on the floor. But after starting the game without two starters as Aaron Nesmith was sidelined with an illness and center Myles Turner was a late scratch with back spasms, Haliburton left the game in the third quarter and did not return, suffering from a sore knee.

With Haliburton out the game may have seemed safely in hand. But with Buddy Hield getting hot in the second half, finishing with 31 points, and contributions coming from unlikely sources, the Pacers cut the lead to two. Each time the Knicks answered, never giving up the lead, but also not allowing anyone at the Garden to exhale.

The Pacers kept coming, scoring seven straight points, capped by a Hield three-pointer, to cut the Knicks lead to 105-103 with 3:01 left. Brunson drove to push the lead to four. Julius Randle (14 points 16 rebounds) blocked a drive by Indiana rookie Bennedict Mathurin and on the other end Barrett drove the lane and kicked out to an open Brunson for a three and a 110-103 lead with 2:19 to play. Hield and Brunson exchanged layups and then Hield hit another three with 1:22 remaining, fouled by Barrett on the play. He added the free throw and it was a three-point game again.

Brunson missed in the lane this time, but Hield misfired from three on the other end, setting up Grimes three-pointer. One more time with the lead at four, Quickley fired ahead to Grimes, but this time he dunked it with 6.3 seconds to play, icing the hard-fought victory.

Barrett connected from three on his first shot, starting the scoring for the Knicks just 20 seconds into the game — showing more rest than rust in his game. By halftime Barrett was up to 16 points and more important, the Knicks were up 62-41.

"I was trying to be aggressive," Barrett said. "I’ve been working, I haven’t been just sitting down. Being able to go out there and my team and my teammates having confidence in me was huge for me. Also, just trying to get back out there and find some sort of rhythm. And be aggressive. I’m cool with giving it my all and living with the results."

Thibodeau had cautioned before the game that while the Knicks were excited to get Barrett back, putting the team at full strength, they had played well in his absence and had to maintain that.

“You know, anytime you have a player like that out you’re going to miss him,” Thibodeau said. “But you have to make it up in different ways and I thought the team really played well with him being out. I thought Quick stepped up and he did a lot of good things for us. I thought the team defense and the rebounding was really good. When a guy goes out that’s what you’re relying on to carry you is your defense and your rebounding and keeping your turnovers down. I thought those three areas we did really well. I thought with Obi [Toppin] out and RJ out the team was very competitive.”

By Steve Popper

steve.popper@newsday.com@StevePopper

Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.