The New York Knicks saw another glimpse at their upside Friday night, while the Indiana Pacers received a sobering vision of their worst-case scenario on the same day.
The Knicks and Pacers each will look to establish consistency Sunday afternoon, when they meet in Indianapolis in the second game of the season between the longtime Eastern Conference rivals.
Both teams were off Saturday following their eventful games Friday, when the host Knicks rolled to a 116-94 win over the Milwaukee Bucks and the visiting Pacers collapsed in the second half of a 103-83 loss to the Charlotte Hornets.
The win was the fourth of the season for the new-look Knicks, who overhauled their starting lineup with the offseason additions of Mikal Bridges and Karl-Anthony Towns. It was their third victory by at least 20 points.
New York’s four losses were by a total of 46 points. Half that collective margin was registered in a season-opening 132-109 loss to the defending NBA champion Boston Celtics.
The new and old pieces clicked again in impressive fashion Friday, when the Knicks led the Bucks wire-to-wire. New York pulled off the same achievement in routing the Detroit Pistons 128-98 on Nov. 1.
Six Knicks players scored in double figures Friday, when Towns led the Knicks with 32 points and 11 rebounds while Bridges had 17 points. Holdover Josh Hart (11 points, nine rebounds, seven assists) flirted with a triple-double while Jalen Brunson (15 points, nine assists) just missed a double-double.
“It’s going to take time to be cohesive, like we were at the end of the year last year,” Brunson said of the Knicks, who fell to the Pacers in seven games of last season’s Eastern Conference semifinals. “It’s kind of a different team. So for us, we have to continue to gel every single day and keep learning.”
The Pacers learned some difficult lessons Friday, when they played a game decided by more than seven points for just the second time this season. Indiana appeared on its way to a decisive victory when it overcame a 10-point first-half deficit and took a 13-point lead by opening the third quarter on a 20-7 run. But the Hornets closed the quarter on a 23-2 run and outscored the Pacers 29-17 in the fourth quarter.
Charlotte shot just 37.8 percent from the floor in the first half. The Hornets ended the third by making eight of 11 shots — including a 5-of-6 performance from beyond the arc — and shot 56.3 percent (18 of 32) over the final 18 minutes.
The Pacers, who opened the third quarter by draining eight of their first nine shots, finished the quarter in a 1-for-10 slump. Indiana missed 11 of its final 12 shots from 3-point range during the Hornets’ comeback.
Overall, Indiana set season lows in field-goal percentage (39.8 percent) and free-throw percentage (57.1 percent). The 83 points were the fewest for the Pacers since Dec. 12, 2022, when they fell to the Miami Heat 87-82.
“We had a rough shot-taking night on top of everything else and that doesn’t help,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. “Being unable to sustain the details that we needed to sustain is the disappointing part.”
