Post-Game Grades: New York Knicks Power Past Indiana Pacers in the Fourth

The Indiana Pacers turned in an ugly fourth quarter collapse at the Garden in their loss to the New York Knicks on Tuesday night.

The Good: Having started the game rather slow, the Indiana Pacers picked up the effort in the second quarter and ended up turning the ball over just nine times compared to New York’s 14, while forcing 10 steals. This translated to winning the points off turnover battle despite failing to stay tight defensively in the waning minutes.

The Bad: The second night of a back-to-back is always difficult, especially when at home the first game and on the road in the second. Ending the night shooting 13/23 from outside the arc, the hosts capitalized on 10/15 from range in the second half as Indiana could not come up with enough of an answer on the other end. It was the Knicks’ first win after trailing through three quarters (previously 0-12). We also saw the first blip of the “Glenn Robinson III is starting” era.

MVP: It was tough, but Myles Turner earns MVP honors for his noteworthy 21 points and 9 boards while showing his range. Often finding himself drifting to the top of the key, Turner was able to knock down half of his attempts from downtown (2/4) and also hit 7/8 from the line.

LVP: Lavoy Allen. Zero points and three boards in 11 minutes of action. A true non-factor.

X-Factor: A complimentary positive to the play of Turner was a big night from Al Jefferson, who finished with 18 points on 8/11 shooting. However, after steamrolling his way to 14 points with 9:30 left in the second quarter, the big man slowed down the production in his 15 minutes of action.