Knicks find redemption in 106-102 win against Pacers
Call it a redemption victory for the New York Knicks.
— Redemption for RJ Barrett, who entered the night missing 21 consecutive 3-pointers, and left hitting 4 of his 5 treys.
— Redemption for Mitchell Robinson, who was outclassed against the same opponent 10 days earlier, and dominated around the basket Saturday.
— Redemption against Domantas Sabonis, who pummeled New York in that season opener, and who was held in check Saturday by Julius Randle.
— Redemption for the Knicks, who two nights earlier had completed one of the worst 3-point shooting nights in memory, but hit over 50% on Saturday to beat the Pacers, 106-102.
Barrett, the 20-year-old former third overall pick, was probably the biggest hero, scoring 25 points after declaring his slump won’t stop him from shooting.
He hadn’t hit a trey for four games, which included Thursday’s 0-for-8 embarrassment against the Raptors. Then on Saturday, Barrett shot 4 of 5 from deep.
“I’m going to keep shooting,” he said. “I’m getting open shots, I just have to knock them down.”
He certainly knocked them down against one of the league’s best teams.
“Makes and misses — I’ve seen the best shooters in the league go through stretches where they don’t make shots,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said. “He got into an attack mode, he got downhill, he got a couple easy ones.”
The Pacers (4-2) have been impressive to start but the Knicks (3-3) mostly controlled the scoreboard, leading by as many as 10 in the third quarter before a tight finish. The key play was Randle intercepting a Pacers pass with 1:32 remaining and converting a breakaway jam off the turnover, giving the Knicks a 100-96 advantage.
Randle had struggled offensively as the center of the Pacers’ defensive attention, but still managed 12 points, 11 boards and eight assists. His best work was limiting Sabonis, the reigning Eastern Conference Player of the Week, to 13 points on just eight shots.
“(Sabonis) is a tough, tough match up. I thought (Randle) took a lot of energy from him,” Thibodeau said. “So a guy like that, you can’t guard individually, you have to guard with our whole team.”
Robinson, meanwhile, was a put-back and alley-oop machine around the hoop, scoring a season-high 16 points on 8-of-10 shooting. The Knicks also got clutch production from Austin Rivers, the backup guard, who dropped 10 of his 15 points in the fourth quarter. Rivers’ 3-pointer with 3:23 remaining gave the Knicks the lead for good.
The performance was impressive considering Rivers missed most of training camp, all of preseason and four regular-season games with a groin strain. Saturday represented just his second appearance.
“(Thibodeau) just tells me to go play because he knows I don’t have any familiarity with anything yet in terms of the team and the sets,” Rivers said. “He’s done a great job of walking me through and being patient with me. I’m still learning. It sucks I didn’t get to practice with the team yet at all. I’m really just coming into this. But the easiest thing sometimes is just playing. And in terms of just playing basketball, I’m fine. I’m going to do what I do and help the team anyway that I can.”
Immanuel Quickley returned following a four-game absence because of a hip pointer. By default, he was the backup point guard and immediately effective, scoring nine points in 15 minutes. Three other guards were out with injuries — Dennis Smith Jr., Frank Ntilikina and Alec Burks. Obi Toppin also remained inactive with his calf strain.
