NEW YORK – After his two-assist-against-four-turnover performance in a 23-point blowout loss in Boston on NBA opening night, Jalen Brunson said he needed to be better as a player and a leader.
Brunson walked the talk.
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With their captain recapturing his All-Star form and the whole team rediscovering their defense, the New York Knicks blew past the Indiana Pacers, 123-98, Friday (Saturday Manila time) in their home opener at Madison Square Garden in front of a sellout crowd.
It was a statement win for the new-look Knicks, who blew a 3-2 lead against the Pacers in the Eastern Conference semifinals last playoffs.
In their first meeting since the Knicks’ Game 7 loss, Brunson took the spotlight with 23 points, five rebounds and five assists against only one turnover in 30 minutes.
On the other hand, Pacers All-Star point guard Tyrese Haliburton shrunk under the bright lights of New York going scoreless in 26 minutes. Haliburton missed all his eight attempts, including seven from downtown.
It was the kind of spread-out offense and stifling perimeter defense that the Knicks envisioned when they surrounded Brunson with a stretch center in Karl-Anthony Towns and 3-and-D players in Mikal Bridges, OG Anunoby and Josh Hart.
Towns drew away Indiana center Myles Turner outside the paint as Brunson and the rest of the starters had an open lane to the basket.
On defense, they held the Pacers to 3-of-30 shooting from the 3-point line.
“We showed up today,” Brunson said after the game. “Plain and simple. I think Boston came out with the energy we just didn't match, and it's unacceptable. Today, we just knew that we had to pick it up. We had to turn the page and be better. And I feel like we did this.”
The Knicks were only holding a slim 36-35 lead when Brunson checked back in with 7:29 left in the second quarter. Brunson took over with six points and four assists as the Knicks outscored the Pacers 25-10 the rest of the first half.
Towns and Bridges, the Knicks’ new acquisitions, also had sensational Garden debuts.
Towns finished with 21 points and 15 rebounds while Bridges also scored 21 on an efficient 8-of-12 shooting.
Bridges’ new shooting form was the talk of the preseason when he struggled to make shots. But all those concerns were gone once the real games began.
After a slow start in the first half in Boston, Bridges is now shooting 60% from the field and 40% from the 3-point line.
“Where we are today with everything, social media, everyone has an opinion on everything,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said of the preseason chatter on Bridges’ shooting struggles.
Bridges finally hit his strides after making only 2-of-19 3-pointers across four preseason games.
“Oftentimes in the preseason, you're trying to work through things, and you're just trying to get a rhythm, and you're trying to figure out a new system, new teammates, so you're not going to have any normal rhythm. But each day, it gets better and better,” Thibodeau said. “But I think logically if you looked at it and you said, okay, this guy shot almost 38% for his career. Me, I bet on that.”
Hart added 20 points and 10 rebounds while Anunoby chipped in 14 on 50% shooting as the Knicks starters all scored in double figures.
Brunson was the last starter to score in the opening quarter after he missed his first four shots. But once he got his rhythm, the Pacers’ defense could not stop him.
That pivotal stretch in the second quarter showed how potent this Knicks team could become when they fit all the pieces to the puzzle.
“Just the game in Boston, there's so many things going on,” Brunson said. “It’s just uncharacteristic of me, for us as a team, but whatever it takes to win (against Indiana), just reading the game, how it goes, and then [we] attacked it the best we can.”
Brunson led the way. The Knicks followed his lead.
“I learned that we know how to respond,” Brunson said. “We know how to respond for sure, but we can't be complacent with it. We got to make this the norm of how we come out with energy and how we play on both sides of the ball.”
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Alder Almo is a former senior sportswriter for Philstar.com and NBA.com Philippines. He is now based in Jersey City, New Jersey, and writes US-based publications Heavy.com and Athlonsports.com.