Pacers Score First Win of Season, Beat Knicks 101-89
With All-Star Danny Granger planted firmly on the bench, fouled out with more than three minutes left in the game, the rest of the Pacers played some lockdown defense and shut the Knicks out to get their first win of the season on Wednesday night, 101-89.
The Knicks didn’t score a basket for the last nine minutes of the game, as the Pacers forced them into a brutal 2-for-17 overall in the fourth quarter.
“That has to be the signature of our team, that regardless of what we’re doing on the offensive end, we can always stop you on the defensive end, and we did that tonight,” Granger said.
With Granger on the bench, fouled out, PG T.J. Ford took over, scoring eight of his 16 points in the final three minutes of the game to give the Pacers a breather. Ford stretched the lead to six with a jumper with 3:12 remaining in the game, and followed with two free throws to place the game out of reach of the Knicks, who’d been only keeping the game close by virtue of free throw shooting.
Dahntay Jones, the defensive stopper from the Denver Nuggets last season, scored 19 points and grabbed 12 boards for the Pacers, while second-year center Roy Hibbert added 15 points and 14 rebounds.
“I’m happy things worked that we’ve been working on for the past couple of weeks and to know that our defense can anchor us,” said Jones. “We were communicating and getting stops and trying to dig out rebounds.”
The Pacers, missing two starters in G Mike Dunleavy and PF Troy Murphy, now look to continue the momentum as they take on the Washington Wizards at home tonight.
