NBA Odds: Knicks late rally down Pacers
The New York Knicks narrowly edge the Pacers to extend their winning streak to seven games. Follow us for more NBA Odds news and updates here!
Jalen Brunson erupted for 30 points while Julius Randle had a stellar performance with 25 points and 14 rebounds to lead the New York Knicks past Indiana Pacers 109-106. The former Most Improved Player Julius Randle made two crucial foul shots to give the Knicks a 105-104 lead with 45 seconds remaining on the clock. The visiting squad continued to maintain their lead until the buzzer and became the best team over Indiana.
“Right now, New York is as good as any team in the NBA,” said the former Mavs head coach and current Pacers Head Coach Rick Carlisle after the game.
The active and aggressive defense of the team continued to produce huge positive impacts that led to their hotter winning streak, thanks to the brilliance of Coach Tom Thibodeau they limited the Pacers with just 43.3 percent field goal and 34.2 percent at the three point line in a 13/38 shooting.
“Win streaks don’t mean anything. This game won’t mean anything in our next game,” Coach Tom Thibodeau said. “You’ve got to start all over, put the work in preparation and when the ball goes up, be ready to go.”
This thick defense of the Knicks was very evident during the late minutes of the final quarter with their primary guard Brunson hitting a three-pointer to start the 104-98 comeback and then he made an important steal and finished it with a layup to spark the team’s passionate victory.
“We just kept fighting. We’re confident, but we know we’ve still got a lot of work to do. We’ve just got to stay focused. We can’t relax. We can’t have bad days. We’ve got to stay focused,” Brunson told reporters.
The offseason trade for Brunson is undeniably worth it and has a huge effect on the team, he is the leader and the soul of the Knicks – if he does not perform well the whole squad will be affected, including Coach Thibs’ playbook plan. He provided really big time shots in this game, shots 3 of 3 from the field that brought the Knicks to the narrow victory over Haliburton and the Indiana Pacers.
Julius Randle and RJ Barrett also had a very solid performance to contribute to the winning streak of New York. The Canadian Mamba scored 24 points and four rebounds to extend his hot-scoring season to 10+ games and become a major contributor to the Knicks seven game winning streak.
However, despite the victory, Indiana Pacers is considered a below-average to a tanking team in the east side, so winning this game so close, with just three-point lead to end the contest is considered an ugly win. Buddy Hield scored 23 points, three assists, and three rebounds while Aaron Nesmith had a double-double night with 23 points and 10 rebounds to go along with All-Star and Most Improved Player candidate Tyrese Haliburton who registered 15 points and 10 assists.
Tom Thibodeau reminded his team, including the fans, to not be overjoyed by this winning streak and not be overconfident, the NBA is a very unpredictable league, anyone can sneak into the playoffs and shock the world.
“Obviously, it’s always better to win. But to think you’re going to win the next game because you have a win streak, if you start skipping over the steps to prepare for a game, then there’s going to be slippage and then you’re going to get knocked down. And I don’t want us to get knocked down. I want us to be ready for the next game,” Coach Thibodeau said during the post press-conference.
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