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New York Knicks Highlights: Fourth Quarter Struggles Lead To Indiana Pacers Win

By Kenneth Teape

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100. Final. 86. 27. 92

New York Knicks Highlights: Knicks Fourth Quarter Struggles Lead To Loss vs. Indiana Pacers

The New York Knicks and Indiana Pacers finished up their home-and-home series Saturday night that started Wednesday. It was a much closer contest this time around, but the end result was the same as the Knicks fell to the Pacers. Unlike Wednesday, the Knicks competed tonight right from the opening tip through the final whistle, even holding the lead going into the fourth quarter.

A big reason the Knicks were where they were Saturday was the play of Andrea Bargnani. Bargnani has really come on strong as of late, as tonight’s 21 points makes it four out of five games that he has scored at least 19 points. Tonight he was extremely efficient, making 10-14 from the field to go with five rebounds and two blocks. He was also the only Knicks starter to finish the game in double digits for scoring.

Unfortunately Bargnani would foul out with 3:21 remaining and the Knicks were unable to overcome the loss, as they were outscored 10-4 the rest of the game, effectively deciding the six point outcome.

Bargnani wasn’t the only Knick to get things going tonight, as they received a spark off the bench from their two reserve guards, Alexey Shved and Shane Larkin. The duo combined for 26 points, eight rebounds, four assists and one steal. The Knicks have been playing better when they are on the court, and Derek Fisher is trusting them more and more, evident from the important minutes they received in the fourth quarter tonight. Surprisingly, they also played more minutes than Tim Hardaway Jr. tonight.

Hardaway Jr.’s struggles continued Saturday night against the Pacers, as he went 0-9 in only 21 minutes played. He didn’t help out much in any area, as he only had two rebounds, one assist and one block to his credit tonight. If this play continues, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him moved back to the bench, as the Knicks have nothing to lose at this point.

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Hardaway Jr. fell victim to the rough and tough style of play the Pacers provide, as they win ugly and tonight was a perfect example of that. A low scoring game with a lot of defense is what they like, as it was a struggle offensively for mostly everyone involved. David West was the only starter to shoot over 50 percent in the game for the Pacers, who had their own player, Roy Hibbert, miss all his shots in the game.

The Pacers bench came through in a big way though, as their guard bench duo had a strong game as well. Rodney Stuckey scored a team high 17 points, as he made a living at the foul line, making all eight attempts there. C.J Watson was another one of the three players to shoot at least 50 percent in the game for the Pacers, as he made 4-8 from the field for 13 points. The final player to make at least half their shots for the Pacers was Damjan Rudez, who made all three of his attempts.

Next up for the Knicks will be a lengthy west coast trip that will span eight days with five games being played. Things will get started Monday night when they visit the Denver Nuggets.

Next: Are the Knicks closer to winning a title than the Nets?

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