Knicks pound Pacers 132-89
January 4, 2010
NEW YORK (AP)—This was a blowout—and that was after only the first fewminutes.
By the end?
“Domination,” Knicks forward Al Harrington(notes) said.
Wilson Chandler(notes) scored 23 points, David Lee(notes) added 22 points and 16 rebounds,and New York flirted with the biggest victory in franchise history in beatingthe Indiana Pacers 132-89 on Sunday night.
Indiana Pacers' Luther Hea… AP – Jan 3, 8:41 pm EST New York Knicks' Danilo Ga… AP – Jan 3, 8:39 pm EST
New York Knicks' Nate Robi… AP – Jan 3, 8:36 pm EST
Up by more than 40 points in t… AP – Jan 3, 8:32 pm EST
Indiana Pacers' A.J. Price… AP – Jan 3, 8:22 pm EST
Indiana Pacers' Solomon Jo… AP – Jan 3, 7:20 pm EST
New York Knicks' David Lee… AP – Jan 3, 7:14 pm EST
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Danilo Gallinari(notes) finished with 20 points and eight rebounds for the Knicks,who led by 48 points—the largest lead in the NBA this season—and won for the10th time in 15 games over the last month. Their second straight victory wasnever in doubt, as they quickly pounced on a team that had little energy on thesecond night of a back-to-back. New York led by double digits for nearly thefinal 44 minutes.
“They were tired and then we caught them, but then we also played well.Otherwise it’d be 10 or 15 points and you can make a case either way,” Knickscoach Mike D’Antoni said. “But we played about as well as we could play andjust really liked the ball movement, the unselfishness and just making the rightplays.”
The Knicks’ largest victory is by 48 points, done three times. New Yorkstill led this one by 48 with 3:15 remaining. The previous largest lead in theNBA this season had been 45 by Golden State over Minnesota on Nov. 9, accordingto STATS LLC.
“It’s a different feeling trying to play when you have a 20-point lead,”Lee said. “It’s more difficult to extend that lead, and it could be easy torelax and let a team back in the game. But we didn’t do that tonight, weextended the lead and put the game away.”
Luther Head(notes) scored 18 points for the Pacers, who snapped an eight-gamelosing streak by beating Minnesota on Saturday but never had a chance forconsecutive wins. With Troy Murphy(notes) resting a sprained left ankle and the demotedT.J. Ford(notes) sitting near him on the bench, the Pacers who did play were completelyovermatched.
“It’s no fun to get behind 15, 20 points early on in the game,” Pacerscoach Jim O’Brien said. “We found ourselves digging holes early in games andgenerally we fight back and make it a ballgame, but we did not tonight.”
Nate Robinson(notes) and the rest of the reserves played the final quarter as theKnicks improved to 14-20—quite a turnaround after a 3-14 start.
The Knicks opened a 9-0 lead and made eight of their first 11 shots, thelast one emphatically. Gallinari faked a jumper and drove into the lane, risingover 7-foot-2 Roy Hibbert(notes) as he came to help and slamming it down for a 20-5lead.
Robinson entered a few minutes later to a loud ovation, his first home gamesince Dec. 1. He was nowhere near as sharp as he was Friday in Atlanta, when hewas given a chance after being benched the previous 14 games and responded with41 points in the Knicks’ 112-108 overtime victory over the Hawks.
He finished with only six and shot just 2 of 11, but he remains the mostpopular Knicks player—even among other popular New Yorkers. Shown on TV athalftime, actor Dustin Hoffman unfolded a picture of Robinson to show thecamera.
“I’m so glad they put Nate back in,” Hoffman said during a halftimeinterview.
The Knicks didn’t get anything special from Robinson this time. Four playersalready had at least 14 points in New York’s highest-scoring first half of theseason.
O’Brien made his own lineup shakeup, making Earl Watson(notes) the starting pointguard, rookie A.J. Price(notes) his backup and dropping Ford from the rotation. The newlineup produced the victory over Minnesota, but Watson shot 4 of 12 for ninepoints Sunday. Price scored 11.
After racing to a 38-16 lead after one, the Knicks followed with theirbiggest second period of the season. They scored 36 in the quarter, withChandler’s follow shot with 5.7 seconds left making it 74-42—at the time theirlargest lead of the season.
“They came out and they were hitting a lot of shots early,” Hibbert said.“We just didn’t do what we were supposed to do from the start. They played anextremely good game today.”
Lee and Gallinari each had 16 in the half, while Chandler and Harrington had14 apiece. Chris Duhon(notes) then scored 12 in the third quarter, which ended with theKnicks leading 107-62.
NOTES: The Knicks’ last 48-point victory was in a 130-82 rout ofPhiladelphia on April 21, 1994. … The Knicks tied a season low with nineturnovers. … The Knicks outrebounded the Pacers 55-34, their largestrebounding margin of the season.
