Knicks take worst lost of season in brutal overtime defeat to pitiful Pacers

Last year, the Pacers handed the Knicks their worst loss at Madison Square Garden. It was for a different reason this time around, but the Knicks’ worst loss of the year at MSG so far has come to the Pacers yet again. 

So much has changed since the last time these two teams met in this arena. 

Without Tyrese Haliburton, the Pacers — who have essentially taken a gap year since opening night – now own the worst record in the East.

After two straight years eliminating the Knicks in the playoffs, they will be no threat this postseason.

The Knicks, meanwhile, entered having won nine of their last 10 games. 

But some things never change.

The Pacers, despite a nightmare season, still own the Knicks, who fell 137-134 in overtime Tuesday night in the penultimate game before the All-Star break.  

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The Pacers, though, gave the Knicks a second chance.

Up three with 6.2 seconds left, they intentionally fouled Mikal Bridges.

He made both, then fouled Pascal Siakam on the other end with 5.2 seconds left. Siakam made just one-of-two, meaning the Knicks were down just two.

Landry Shamet missed his 3-pointer on the end, but Karl-Anthony Towns was fouled by Aaron Nesmith while going for the rebound.

And Towns calmly made both free throws to send the game to overtime. 

The Pacers scored the first nine points of overtime, however.

On cue, after fans had already begun to leave, the Knicks went on a 10-2 run, capped by a Jalen Brunson 3-pointer, to cut the deficit to one point with 5.1 seconds left. But it wasn’t enough.

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Quenton Jackson hit both free throws, the Pacers intentionally fouled Shamet, who missed both free throws, on the other end, and an embarrassing Knicks loss was complete. 

If there is one thing these two teams do well, it is to create chaos. There were 39 lead changes — the most in any NBA game this year. 

Every time you blinked, another Pacers shooter had a wide-open 3-pointer.

The dominant Knicks defense that had powered their resurgence completely disappeared, allowing the Pacers to shoot 51.5 percent from the field and 40.0 percent from 3-point range

A trio of Knicks villains — Aaron Nesmith, Aaron Nembhard and Siakam did the most damage late in the game. It didn’t help that Brunson, the NBA’s reigning Clutch Player of the Year, was uncharacteristically off in crunch time. 

Aaron Nesmith scored on back-to-back possessions to give the Pacers a three-point lead with just over three minutes left in regulation.

After a bucket from Bridges, Nemhard made a layup to restore a 3-point lead.

Two possessions later, it was Siakam posting up and scoring.

Then, with the Pacers only up by one, Siakam hit a fadeaway over Josh Hart to put the Pacers up three with 12.7 seconds left. 

Brunson had two chances to give the Knicks the lead, both with the Knicks down 120-121. He missed a 3-pointer with 1:02 left and missed a midrange jumper with 33.7 seconds left.

Then with 10.8 seconds left, he missed another 3-pointer that would have tied the game. 

Towns picked up his third offensive foul — and fifth total foul — for hooking Jay Huff with 9:06 left in regulation and was immediately taken out for Ariel Hukporti.

He was on the bench until 3:07 left. Then with 2:14 left in overtime, he fouled out after being called for an illegal screen, his fourth offensive foul of the game. 

With Shamet starting for an injured OG Anunoby, and without Miles McBride or Mitchell Robinson, the Knicks bench was thin and was outscored by 25 points by the Pacers bench. 

Tuesday was the first meeting between these two teams at MSG since Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals last year.

They squared off earlier in the season, when the Knicks escaped with a one-point win in Indiana. 

Two matchups, two scorelines that are not close to indicative of the two teams’ spot in the standings. No matter how bad they are, the Pacers continue to have the Knicks’ number.