Two teams eager to bounce back from disappointing losses meet when the Indiana Pacers face the visiting New York Knicks on Tuesday in Indianapolis.
Both teams have had two days to regroup since losing on Saturday. New York fell 131-104 at home to the Boston Celtics, while Indiana trailed early and never recovered in a 124-117 loss to the host Los Angeles Lakers.
The Knicks viewed the matchup against Boston as a chance to see how they measured up against the Eastern Conference power, but the Celtics dominated in every aspect. Boston shot 54.1 percent from the field and 19 of 39 (48.7 percent) from 3-point range.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do. Simple as that. There’s no sugarcoating it. There’s no moral wins,” Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns said. “If we’ve got aspirations, which I know we do, then we’ve got to find ways to win games like (that one).”
Jalen Brunson scored 36 points to lead the Knicks against Boston, but Towns was held to a season-low nine points on 3-for-8 shooting from the field.
New York played without forward OG Anunoby, who is expected to miss his fourth straight game with a sprained right foot.
Saturday’s loss was just the second in the last nine games for the Knicks, who boast the fifth-best record in the NBA but have struggled against the league’s elite teams.
“I feel like we’re too much of a roller coaster right now,” Brunson said. “We have these great games where we look great, then we have games where we’re like, âWhat the hell was that?’ I feel like we are still trending in the right direction, like we’re still moving up. But it’s like we have highs and lows and we are still going the right way, but I’m just like, âIf you could just be more consistent.'”
The Knicks have split their first two meetings this season against Indiana, which has gone 19-7 since Dec. 13 to move into fourth place in the East.
The Pacers have been plagued by slow starts recently, and the trend continued against the Lakers on Saturday. Pascal Siakam finished with 23 points for Indiana, which trailed 44-22 at the end of the first quarter.
“You cannot survive doing this and having these kinds of poor starts,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. “We gotta look in the mirror. I’ve gotta look and consider everything. We gotta be better at the beginning of the game. We’ve gotta go harder and we’ve gotta fight harder.”
Indiana is returning home following a 2-2 road trip and will be looking for a strong start after trailing at the end of the first quarter in all four games.
Tyrese Haliburton was scoreless in the opening quarter against the Lakers, and Indiana shot just 30.4 percent from the field for the period.
“I felt like we were getting exactly the shots we wanted,” Haliburton said. “Just missing. I felt that way for four games. Especially in the first quarter, I’m really comfortable with the shots we’ve been taking as a group. They just haven’t been falling for whatever reasons. It is what it is.”
The Pacers are monitoring the status of center Myles Turner, who missed Saturday’s game with a cervical strain and is listed as day-to-day.
