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Indiana Pacers will play New York Knicks on Thursday at 9 AM. The Eastern Conference has two surprise teams near the top this season. We expected the Knicks and Pacers to be good, but not this good. Only the Miami Heat have a better record than the Knicks and Pacers in the East; Knicks are 32-18 and Pacers are 32-21. Both teams feature tight defenses, with the Pacers leading the league in allowing the lowest shooting percentage, field-goal defense (41.7 percent) and opponents’ scoring average (89.9). The Knicks and Pacers have each defeated the other once this season. In each case, the home team won.
For his career, Amare averages 34.1 minutes per game. This season he is only averaging 22.8 minutes and scoring 13.6 points with 4.8 rebounds. His career numbers are 21.3 points and 8.6 rebounds. You can bet that Amare wants to start and play more minutes, “That’s the coach’s decision,” he said. “That has nothing to do with me. I feel great. I’m ready to play. But it’s a coach’s decision.” For his part, on making moves either through trade or shaking lineups, Woodson has said “I’m not going to panic and make any unnecessary changes. I’ve just got to get guys refocused and ready for this major push.” While a lot of players were looking forward for the all star break, Amare wasn’t one of them. “I wanted to keep playing,” he said. “Any time you get a break it’s great, but I wanted to keep playing. I wanted to stay in rhythm and keep improving.” Amare has been in rhythm of sorts, he totalled 30 points in his last three games.
Leaving aside the absent Danny Granger, Paul George is the best player on the Pacers right now. Paul George had a stellar all star debut with 17 points, 4 assists, 3 rebounds and 2 steals in just 20 minutes. And he’s only 22 years old. For the season, George is averaging 17.6 points, 7.8 rebounds and 4 assists per game. He is leading the entire NBA in defensive win shares with 4.21. In seven of the last 11 games, George has scored 20 or more points. “This is definitely a game we’ll be up for. We’re only a game-and-a-half back from New York and it’s very possible that we can move up to the second seed.” said George.
“It was good to have everybody back,’’ Woodson said of having his full team for practice recently. “We’re not fully healthy but we had Rasheed and Marcus go through conditioning work today and it was nice to see. Today was a step for both of them in terms of conditioning. I’m not going to throw them in a uniform. They are going to have to show me that they can run up and down.” Neither Wallace nor Camby are younglings. Both are 38 years old.
Even Melo playing in this one was a little questionable as he had bruised his right arm while playing vs the Raptors. But he played in the all star game and scored 26 points on 8 of 14 shooting. David West is listed as a probable for this one with a scratched eye.
For the Pacers, Granger’s return looms. Danny Granger has started practicing with the Pacers again. “He looks good. His mobility is great. There’s going to be some time before he trusts how hard he can push, but he looks great out there how he’s moving.” - Paul George said of Danny Granger. “I don’t want him coming back until he feels 100 percent ready,” said Frank Vogel, Pacers coach.
The Knicks are leaning way too much on Carmelo for offense. Anthony leads the league in shots attempted with 22.1 field goals attempted per game. On the other hand, the Knicks are only averaging 19.7 assists as a team.
“We were doing that in the first 20 games. I think we got away from that at the end, but when you have a guy like Carmelo, you tend to give him the ball and watch. We can’t rely on him to carry us the whole way.” – said Jason Kidd. The Knicks are pretty dangerous, besides Carmelo too. “They’re as tough as any team in the NBA to guard,” Vogel said. “It’s the way they can spread the floor,” George added. “They shoot the ball real well. I think that’s something we’re going to have to lock into, limit them from their 3-point shooting.” Steve Novak is one major sharpshooter on the Knicks to watch out for.
On the other hand, the Pacers can’t wait for the return of Danny Granger and to get to rely on him. They’re just 3-7 in games decided by three points or less and they need a guy like Granger to right the ship on offense in clutch situations.
The Knicks are the NBA’s eldest team in history in terms of average age. They are 31.2 years old as a team. “Obviously, we’ve got some guys a little over that mark, but you know what, the guys that we do have are going to bring great veteran leadership and they bring a calmness around the team that we didn’t have before, and it’s only going to benefit us. In order to win in this league, you’ve got to have veterans.” - Tyson Chandler had said of this Knicks team. He would know, the Mavericks team he won a title with had an average age of almost 30. The Knicks were a team in need of the all star break more than many other teams in the NBA. Prior to the all star break, the Knicks had won six of eight games. “I think we might have been thinking about the break beforehand. I think now we’ve had a chance to refocus and hopefully we can get it going.” Amare had said.
Expect a tough, grinding battle tomorrow. One which can have far reaching consequences in the postseason.
