Carmelo Anthony‘s 15-point fourth quarter helped the New York Knick complete the comeback and knock off the Indiana Pacers at MSG.

  • New York Knicks 87 (27-41)
  • Indiana Pacers 81 (34-33)
  • NBA, Final, Box Score
  • Madison Square Garden, New York, NY
After Jeff Hornacek said reaching the playoffs is unrealistic, the Knickerbockers go on to win their third game in March. On Tuesday, with a snowy, New York City backdrop, the New York Knicks knocked off the Indiana Pacers by the final of 87-81.

The win on Tuesday was surprising for the Knicks, especially after the embarrassing loss to the Brooklyn Nets just a couple days earlier. More surprising was the fact that this game was about defense, something the Knicks are usually allergic to. Indiana ended the game shooting 36 percent and only had 29 second half points.

The star of the night was Carmelo Anthony as his 15-point 4th quarter helped New York cap off the comeback.

Jeff Hornacek continued to change the offense around. He moved Kristaps Porzingis to center, Carmelo Anthony to power forward and Lance Thomas to small forward for the starting lineup. The new starting lineup could not get off to a fast start on offense as New York shot just 32 percent in the first quarter. The offense did not start off as expected, but the defense did. They held Indiana to shooting 40 percent in the first quarter, something that did not last in the second quarter.

Melo had a hard time guarding Paul George in the first half. He ended the night off scoring 22 points and grabbing 10 rebounds.

The Knicks couldn’t sustain the level of defense throughout the second quarter. Even though the defense started to let up, the offense could not make shots nor easy baskets. Derrick Rose and Willy Hernangomez were the only two players that shot efficiently. Rose ended the night with 16 points shooting 7-12 from the floor while Hernangomez ended his night with 13 points, shooting 6-11.

The coaches made good defensive second half adjustments. Indiana only scored 12 points in the 3rd-quarter and 17 points in the 4th-quarter. The defensive stops turned to a momentum shift throughout the quarter. Rose ignited the Knicks by scoring eight points in the third that helped New York move a 10-point deficit to just two points heading into the 4th-quarter.

“I think defensively they were helping each other out, I was proud of our guys tonight,” Hornacek said.

The defensive stops turned to a momentum shift throughout the quarter. Rose ignited the Knicks by scoring eight points in the third to help New York close a 10 point deficit to being down two points heading into the 4th-quarter.

New York made a run and took a three-point lead with nine minutes to go in the 4th-quarter. After they took the lead, the Knicks never looked back as Anthony was the one to put his superman cape on in the fourth. After scoring just seven points through the first three-quarters, Melo poured in 15 points in the 4th-quarter to cap off a 10-point deficit comeback.

After 25 minutes of action, Kristaps Porzingis left the game and never returned via a left thigh contusion.

Up Next will, once again, be the crosstown Brooklyn Nets at MSG on Thursday night.

 
19 Years Old, from Chicago, IL. NBA writer for EliteSportsNY and RealBallInsider. MLB writer for ROBaseball. Sports Writer for The Communicator Newspaper. Co-Host on Sports Show "SportsSanity" blogtalkradio.com/sportssanity