Pacers fail to put a lot of a fight against Knicks as New York cruises to win

Indianapolis – opposite Knicks in a match between two East Teams that seems definitely for endgames, the Pacers Could not throw much of a match on the boards or on defense in their return to Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Tuesday night.

A superstar performance of Karl-Anthony Towns, a great evening from Josh Hart and a dominant evening on the boards allowed Knicks to overcome bad trouble by Jalen Brunson to blow up the Pacers for a 128-115 victory, Indiana’s third loss in his past four matches and the first night of a back-to-back that includes a trip to Washington on Wednesday night.

Cities poured into 40 points, grabbed 12 rebounds, exhausted five assists and made three steals for a knicks team that shot 55.8% off the field, and the outscoring of a Pacers team that got 24 points from Pascal Siakam, 16 points and eight assists from Tyrese Haliburton, 18 points from Bennedict Mathurin from the bench and 18 points, nine rebounds and four assists from Thomas Bryant instead of Myles Turner, Who will not return to the set-up before after the All-Star break Due to the cervical sprain he suffered last week.

Pacers rewards ‘loyalty’. Jahlil Okafor plays first NBA game in 1,367 days.

Playing of the game: Josh Hart

Hart played the antagonist for the Gainbridge audience at the end of the first half and draws an error on Andrew Nembhard – and a subsequent technical error on Thomas Bryant – by withdrawing from random contact with Nembhard’s arm, as if he had been elbowed in the neck of an ultimate fighter.

But that’s what Hart did the rest of the game hurt Pacers more.

While Karl-Anthony Towns dominated the first half, it was Hart who entered the void left by Jalen Brunson’s bad trouble to keep the New York violation going.

Repeatedly cut through the middle of an inefficient Indiana defense, knocked Hart down 12 of 16 shots to score 30 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and exhausted five assists and drove Knick’s violation to a dominant performance on an evening when Brunson picked up His fifth evil just three minutes, 23 seconds into the second half and was on the bench and see Indiana without success try to close the gap that Knicks built at the end of the first half.

Turning point

The pacies were able to avoid The slow starting that plagued them on their four-game western road trip. Indiana fought for a 22-17 lead after the first 8:20 of the game, fought for New York on the boards and limited New York’s points in the transition.

This time came the race that lowered Pacers, first midway through the second quarter. Indiana kept pace with a red-hot cities throughout the first half of the quarter, but after an OBI Toppin Layup, Pacers gave a 47-46 lead with 6:23 back in half, New York put together a 15-3 race.

Cities had made most of the heavy lift through the first half, but New York’s guards did most of the damage in the race, a stretch of Tyrese Haliburton’s mistake on a Miles McBride 3-point attempt.

When the race was over, Knicks had a 61-50 lead, and although Pacers sneaked within a striking distance a few times in the second half, the damage had been done.

Games of the game

The lonely bucket from the cities under New York’s big first half race was sublime, a baseline drive past Thomas Bryant and a thump over Aaron Nesmith, who drew a sharp intake of breathing from the crowd.

This article originally appeared on the Indianapolis Star: Pacers vs Knicks: Karl-Anthony Towns, Josh Hart Toy with Indiana