{"id":146265,"date":"2021-01-03T05:42:32","date_gmt":"2021-01-03T02:42:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/knicks-use-balanced-effort-to-clip-pacers-in-gritty-road-win\/"},"modified":"2021-01-03T05:42:32","modified_gmt":"2021-01-03T02:42:32","slug":"knicks-use-balanced-effort-to-clip-pacers-in-gritty-road-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/knicks-use-balanced-effort-to-clip-pacers-in-gritty-road-win\/","title":{"rendered":"#Knicks use balanced effort to clip Pacers in gritty road win"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#Knicks use balanced effort to clip Pacers in gritty road win<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

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The Knicks left their shooting woes in 2020, carried over a strong defense and found their finishing touch.<\/p>\n

Coming off a brutal shooting night on New Year\u2019s Eve against the Raptors in Tampa, the Knicks bounced back and leaned on their defense late to close out the Pacers for a 106-102 win Saturday night at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.<\/p>\n

After briefly losing the lead midway through the fourth quarter, the Knicks (3-3) used an 11-0 stretch and finished the game<\/a> on a 13-6 run to secure the win.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what it\u2019s about \u2014 whatever we gotta do to get a win, that\u2019s the only thing that matters,\u201d said Julius Randle, who came up with a big steal late that led to a dunk during the decisive run. \u201cWe did a great job of getting stops down the stretch and then on the offensive end, just playing for each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

RJ Barrett, who was among the chief culprits during a cold shooting night Thursday, rediscovered his groove and led the way with 25 points. Randle shook off a rough start Saturday \u2014 he was held scoreless until the final minute of the first half \u2014 and finished with 12 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists.<\/p>\n

\"RJ
RJ Barrett, who scored a team-high 25 points, goes up for a shot during the Knicks\u2019 106-102 victory over the Pacers. <\/figcaption>
Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Randle\u2019s defense on Domantas Sabonis, Mitchell Robinson\u2019s big night (16 points, nine rebounds) and an aggressive Elfrid Payton (19 points) helped the Knicks dominate the Pacers (4-2) in the paint, outscoring them 56-26 and out-rebounding them 51-32.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was a big concern, the way they get the ball into the paint and score in there,\u201d coach Tom Thibodeau said. \u201cThat\u2019s everyone tied together. \u2026 [The Pacers put] enormous pressure on your defense. It requires you to do more than one thing, so often times there\u2019s two, three, four, five efforts on one play and that\u2019s what it takes to win.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sabonis poured in 32 points in the Pacers\u2019 season-opening win over the Knicks but was held to 13 points Saturday night. Malcolm Brogdon caught fire from downtown, leading the Pacers with 33 points, but the Knicks didn\u2019t let him spoil their otherwise stout defensive effort.<\/p>\n

After shooting a brutal 3-for-36 from beyond the arc in Thursday\u2019s loss, the Knicks started Saturday\u2019s game 3-for-4 from deep and finished 12-for-27.<\/p>\n

Barrett drained the first 3 he took in the first quarter, snapp<\/a>ing a skid of 21 straight misses from beyond the arc over his previous four games. He made it 2-for-2 minutes later, picking up where he left off in Indiana after shooting 3-for-3 from deep in the season opener.<\/p>\n

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