The Road Warriors series will be highlighting the Indiana Pacers road trips and how they have fared historically in opposing arenas. This time, we have an old rival to break down.
Ugh. The last time the Indiana Pacers took the court, the result was nothing short of nauseating. The Celtics put the hurt on the blue and gold on Wednesday night with a 135-108 stomping that left several Pacers fans a bit shell-shocked.
Nonetheless, the Pacers record still stands at 27-14 and they have a chance Friday to go 3-2 on an oddly scheduled road trip. Considering most of those are coming without perhaps the best defensive player in basketball this year in Myles Turner, I think the Pacers would gladly take that despite the wounds.
The schedule turns back to Indianapolis as the Pacers play six of their next seven at home. This will be one of the tougher stretches of the season as three of those games come against the 76ers, Raptors, and Warriors. The Pacers hope to have a fully healthy squad by that point with Darren Collison, Cory Joseph, and Myles Turner currently dealing with various injuries.
According to Land of Basketball, this will be the 177th meeting between the Knicks and the Pacers in the regular season. The Pacers have not fared well in New York since the 70’s as they are 26-59 on the road. They do however have a win in New York already this year and have won four straight overall.
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The Knicks have had a rough go of it as of late, especially without Kristaps Porzingis in the lineup. They are currently 10-31 and are only ahead of the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference standings. They seem destined for a lottery pick and at this point, anything less than that would infuriate an already less-than-enthusiastic fanbase.
Their only win in the last ten games came against the Lebron-less Lakers. On the surface, Tim Hardaway Jr‘s 20 points per game seem impressive, but he is doing so on a grotesque 39 percent from the floor on 16 attempts per game. Enes Kanter averages 11 rebounds a game and should pull in plenty more with the absence of Myles Turner, who will once again be out Friday night. Outside of that, the starting lineup is a bunch of players who would be role players off the bench elsewhere. Simply put, the Knicks are bad, but not laughably bad. So it’s not even the fun kind of bad.
The Pacers are not happy with their performance on Wednesday night and rightfully so. I fully expect them to bounce back and dominate from tip to buzzer. The defense will be what to watch for them as they have been a hollow shell of their early-season success as of late. Regardless of recent shortcomings, even their worst efforts should be good enough to beat the Knicks.
Prediction: Pacers 117 Knicks 109
What’s in Town?
New York is one of the most fun cities in the world to visit. If you’re in town, you’re coming at a slower tourist time and should be able to do more. Feel free to sight-see as I recommend pretty much every tourist trap the Big Apple as to offer. Maybe go barter in Chinatown for a new “Rolex”. Go see a Broadway show. Do anything. It’s New York, it’s fun.