INDIANAPOLIS — There were about six minutes left in the Pacers arena, and Julius Randle tried to body up the Domantas Sabonis with the ball. It was a chore. Sabonis is one of the few who can match Randle’s power.
When Randle exerted all his energy and finally got a step on Sabonis, he threw up a wild lay-up attempt that was swatted away easily by Myles Turner.
It encapsulated not only Randle’s night, but also the Knicks’. Everything looked too difficult. And, ultimately, it failed.
Wednesday was the second straight defeat for the Knicks, this time to the Pacers, 111-98, with mighty Giannis Antetokounmpo and Milwaukee on deck Friday.
The Pacers (3-6) never trailed against the Knicks (5-3). They scored the game’s opening 11 points and survived a late scare, when the Knicks cut the deficit to two in the fourth quarter. Turner (25 points, 13 rebounds), Caris LeVert (21 points) and Malcolm Brogdon (17 points, 7 assists) feasted on the Knicks’ porous defense in the physical battle.
Randle had 18 points and missed 10 of his 16 shots, committing three turnovers in his second straight disjointed performance. The Knicks were outscored by 14 points in Randle’s 36 minutes. His teammate Derrick Rose, once the league’s MVP, said learning to be the No. 1 option and dealing with the defensive pressure is a process.
“Just play his game. I feel like if he just goes out there and plays his game everything is going to be good. We know that we’ve got more scoring on the team,” Rose said. “He’s got to find ways to get lost. Right now they’re double-teaming from different spots on the court. That’s why we’ve got Kemba [Walker[ and Evan [Fournier] on the floor with him, so that when you’ve got that type of person on that side of the ball offensively it’s easy to just get lost.
“Being that No. 1 option you want that opportunity to get lost in the offense,” Rose continued. “I played where I had to do everything, bring the ball up, set up the offense, score the ball and if it was up to me I wouldn’t want to do all that but I was kind of forced to do it so I had to figure it out.”
The game marked the season debut of Nerlens Noel, who was a reserve Wednesday and played 18 minutes.
The Knicks center, who signed a three-year, $27 million deal in the summer, had been out with knee soreness and kept pushing back his return.
Noel replaced Taj Gibson as the first center off the bench — entering with about four minutes left in the first quarter — and finished with two points and six boards. Gibson was DNP. Tom Thibodeau understood it was a feeling-out game for the 27-year-old Noel.
“We don’t know what that’s gonna look like, but the things that he brings, we want him to do that,” the Knicks head coach said. “So, the shot blocking, the protection of the paint, great pick-and-roll defender. Just go as hard as you can. If we need to get him out, we’ll get him out. We’ll get him back in.
“Conditioning-wise, we know that games are a lot different,” Thibodeau continued. “There’s far more intensity to an NBA game than a practice, so there’s nothing we could really do to replicate that other than he just has gotta get out there.”
Rose said prior to the game that he’s still happy with the team’s record, and his sentiment still applies because the Knicks are two games above .500. But their three losses were against losing teams. And Wednesday wasn’t encouraging.
“We’ve got a winning record,” Rose said. “I’ve played on teams where it was the opposite and you feel like the season is over and you’ve got to climb, you’re fighting up a mountain, not a hill but a mountain, the entire year. So yeah, it’s good to be on the other side.”
