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Tuesday, Mar. 21 8:00pm ET
Pacers 1st team in East to clinch playoff spot | |||||
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 GAME FLOW
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- Indiana is the league leader in free throw accuracy, and New York paid a big price for consistently sending the Pacers there. Jalen Rose scored 28 points, including six on free throws, as Indiana overcame a 10-point deficit in the final 10 minutes to defeat the New York Knicks 95-91 Tuesday night.
"We did a good job being aggressive. If you're not a team with the ability to make plays, they can take advantage at the other end. We took the ball to the hole, on some occasions we got fouled," said Rose, who was 8-of-10 from the free throw line. Indiana, the league-leader in free throw accuracy, made 24 of 28 attempts. The Knicks got to the line 10 times and made eight. The Pacers hit 14 free throws in the fourth quarter, while New York didn't attempt one the entire period. Rik Smits had 20 for Indiana, including a short jumper over Patrick Ewing that put the Pacers ahead to stay, 93-91 with 57.4 seconds to play. "We had a couple of options. Reggie (Miller) was coming off the paint. If he had a good look, we were going to get it to him. The ball came to me and I took the shot," Smits said. Ewing led New York with 23 points and was 10-of-18 from the field. However, Ewing missed his last four shots -- two of them coming after Smits put Indiana ahead. "He (Ewing) looked very good. They went to him a lot more often tonight," Smits said. But, Ewing wasn't happy with the execution in the final minutes. "We got to take better shots down the stretch," he said. "The bottom line is we got to execute on offense. When we play good defense, we've got to go down and get good shots. ... We blew it. This was a win that we should have have. Ewing's final miss came with 6.9 seconds left and Rose grabbed the rebound. He was quickly fouled and hit both free throws with 4.1 seconds remaining. The victory made Indiana, which has the league's best home record (31-3), the first team in the Eastern Conference to clinch a playoff spot. It also game the Pacers a 4{-game advantage over Miami in the battle for home court advantage throughout the conference playoffs. Reggie Miller had 17 for Indiana, including a 3-pointer that ignited Indiana's comeback. "We believe tonight was the start of the playoffs. We're fighting for our lives, trying to keep our lead in the East," Miller said. The Pacers won despite shooting just 4-of-12 from the field in the fourth quarter. New York, which shot 33-of-61 in the first three periods, was 7-of-26 in the fourth quarter. New York took its biggest lead of the game at 81-71 as Kurt Thomas and Marcus Camby scored the first two baskets of the fourth quarter. Starting with Miller's 3-pointer, Indiana used free throws to tie the game at 87 with a 16-6 run. The Pacers scored 10 consecutive points on free throws during the run, which ended on a 3-pointer by Austin Croshere. It was the first time all season New York has blown a lead of 10 or more points in the fourth quarter and lost the game. Ewing's fadeaway jumper gave New York its final lead at 89-87 and a basket by Latrell Sprewell made it 91-87 with 2:37 to play. Two free throws by Smits and a jumper by Croshere tied the game with 1:49 left, setting the stage for the go-ahead bucket as each team exchanged turnovers.
Game notes | ALSO SEE NBA Scoreboard New York Clubhouse Indiana Clubhouse RECAPS New Jersey 100 Toronto 93
Indiana 95 AUDIO/VIDEO   Larry Bird gives kudos to the Knicks.wav: 116 k RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6   | |||||
