Preview: Pacers at Knicks

[March 14, 2017]  The mercurial Indiana Pacers never seem to be able to carry momentum from one game to the next but are still hanging onto a spot in the top eight of the Eastern Conference. The Pacers will try to secure back-to-back wins for the first time in over a month when they visit the New York Knicks on Tuesday.


Indiana is 5-10 over its last 15 games and traded wins and losses over the last 10, culminating with a solid 102-98 triumph at home over Miami on Sunday after a dismal performance in a 99-85 loss at Milwaukee on Friday. The Pacers, who sit sixth in the East, are just 11-22 on the road and will play three of their next five on the road - including trips to East-powers Boston and Toronto. The Knicks are not part of the postseason race any longer and suffered the indignity of becoming the first team to lose in Brooklyn to the NBA-worst Nets in 2017 when they dropped a 120-112 decision on Sunday. New York is still struggling to implement team president Phil Jackson's preferred triangle offense, and young star Kristaps Porzingis described the confusion as, "from top to bottom, everybody. So it’s hard to play like that."

TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, FSN Indiana, MSG (New York)

ABOUT THE PACERS (34-32): Indiana is only three games ahead of the ninth-place Heat in the loss column and is concentrating on taking the games as they come instead of building a long winning streak in one day. "You've got to keep things one game at a time," center Myles Turner told reporters. "The outlook is, obviously, we need to make the playoffs, want to make the playoffs, but you've got to take it one game at a time." Star small forward Paul George is doing his best to keep the team in the top eight and collected 28 points and 10 rebounds in Sunday's win - his second straight double-double and third in the last four games.

ABOUT THE KNICKS (26-41): Jackson occasionally visits practice in an effort to teach the triangle, but the team seems to be pulling in several different directions. "We've been switching things up," Porzingis told reporters. "Never at any point in this season, we played like we wanted to. So it was always like, 'Maybe this will work. Maybe this will work.' So we were kind of looking for stuff ... but we never really got it together and were able to execute the way we should have. It's been a lot of confusion." Porzingis does not look as confused on the defensive end and recorded a total of 11 blocked shots in the last two games.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. Pacers PF Thaddeus Young is averaging 13.7 points in the last three games after posting 4.4 points over the previous five contests.

2. Knicks SG Courtney Lee, who averages 10.7 points on the season, is averaging 15 points in the last four contests.

3. New York took two of the first three meetings, including a 109-103 triumph in Indiana on Jan. 23.

PREDICTION: Pacers 109, Knicks 101

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