NEW YORK _ Back from an arduous road trip, the Knicks took the floor at Madison Square Garden Friday night to begin the second half of the schedule. And in the end, game No. 42 felt a lot like the first 41.
There were brief flashes of hope, highlights from an assortment of players. But mostly, it was just a methodical grinding of the undermanned Knicks by the Pacers, who eventually pulled away for a 121-106 win. The loss was the Knicks' 11th in the last 12 games.
The Knicks were shorthanded with Enes Kanter held out because of flu-like symptoms and Frank Ntilikina out with a sprained left ankle. Damyean Dotson left the game with seven minutes left when he suffered a contused left calf. Then they lost Tim Hardaway Jr. a minute later in the fourth quarter when he tweaked his left hamstring and had to be helped to the locker room.
The Pacers were missing one of their top players, Myles Turner, but it made little difference as they built a nine-point lead by the end of the first quarter, 12 by halftime and stretched it to as many as 21 points in the fourth quarter.
And like the first 41 games, Knicks coach David Fizdale tried to look at the bright side of where the team is right now.
"I think the first half of the season _ despite I know the record doesn't show it _ what we accomplished in the first half is we took care of our building," Fizdale said before the game. "I'm talking about the internal workings of how we treat each other, how we operate, the work ethic and the respect that we pay each other every day, from the trainers to the coaches, all of us. Hopefully we're not selling each other out or blaming each other. I don't feel that in the building. I really feel like we accomplished that.
"And I felt like the young guys really took a big step from summer league to now. Now I want to see them start to be able to execute systematically, if they can start executing the defense with a higher level, seeing situations before they happen. And offensively really letting go and being OK with making the easy play and sharing the game. Those are the things I'm going to be looking for. Obviously we're pushing and I still preach that we're going to compete and try to win every single game that we play. The guys are into that. That's what makes me most proud of them, because they come with that attitude and that work ethic every day. Hopefully the second half of the season we'll start seeing steps in those areas."
It was Croatian Heritage Night at the Garden, which meant a Croatian duo performing their version of Seven Nation Army and huge replicas of Mario Hezonja's head being raced around the stands. With the short-handed roster, Hezonja, the Knicks' one Croatian player, had plenty of opportunities, but did not play to the level he did in the previous game at Golden State when he scored 19 points. He finished with 10 points and six rebounds.
With just under three minutes left in the third quarter Hezonja connected on a 3-pointer from the right wing, cutting the deficit to 89-76, and just shrugged _ content to finally connect after misfiring on his first three attempts from beyond the arc.
"We're just keeping it one game at a time with him, and just trying to keep his head clear about what his job is and what we expect," Fizdale said. "Hopefully we can keep him going in the right direction."
