4 Most Eye-Catching Box Score Numbers From Knicks' Loss to Pacers

In what was supposed to be a win against a Tyrese Haliburton-less Pacers team, the Knicks laid a dud to fall to just 6-6. As is usually the case in a close game such as this one, there were a lot of notable stats. Some were good, many were not.

Let's go over four of the most notable figures for New York on Friday night.

1. 17:8

Coming into the night, the Knicks were among the best defensive rebounding teams in the league. Led by Karl-Anthony Towns, who leads the league with 10.7 defensive rebounds per game, New York was sixth in the league in defensive rebounds per game. The same could not be said about the Pacers though.

Entering the night, they averaged just 9.2 offensive rebounds per game, with Ivica Zubac being responsible for 2.9 of them. And that was good for dead last in the league. But on Friday night, you could not tell that that was the case.

The Pacers grabbed 17 offensive rebounds en route to 16 second chance points, while the Knicks, who average the second-most offensive rebounds per game with 14.2 per game, managed to grab just eight, leading to just seven second chance points.

The Knicks lost this game for a myriad of reasons. But even with a lot of things not going their way, a few more rebounds both ways and this could've still been a win.

2. 29:19

Another big discrepancy that badly hurt the Knicks were the bench points, where the Pacers outscored them 29 to 19. The Pacers bench got some really nice contributions across the board as Obi Toppin scored nine points, Jay Huff chipped in eight points in eight minutes, and T.J. McConnell contributed another six points.

Meanwhile, the Knicks got a nice night from Miles McBride, who went 3-7 from three in 22 minutes, but received just five points from Shamet and Kolek. And in the 24 minutes shared by Andre Drummond, Jordan Clarkson, and Pacome Dadiet, the trio combined for 0 points on 0-3 shooting.

The Knicks currently don't have a high-scoring second unit. But in a close game where OG Anunoby and Josh Hart are struggling, they need a bit more from the bench to help out Jalen Brunson and Towns.

3. 11 points on 4-17 from the field and 2-11 from three

That's all they got from the aforementioned Anunoby and Hart scoring-wise. Both struggled mightily from three and weren't much better from two. The Knicks are often talented enough to endure an off night from one of their starters, but having both of them go AWOL offensively was a very tough blow.

Literally one made shot from Hart or another field goal from Anunoby could've been the difference between an ugly loss and a win. While Anunoby's spot in the starting lineup is and should be as secure as anybody's on the team, this performance doesn't exactly bode well for Hart, whose spot in the starting lineup continues to be a talking point.

4. 18 points on 8-12

This was a bad loss and everybody knows it. But it wasn't all bad. For the sake of ending things on a bit of a positive note, let's give credit where credit is due. Mikal Bridges, the only starter not named Brunson or Towns that wanted to contribute offensively Friday, broke out of what has pretty much been a season-long slump.

He did still have a costly turnover in the fourth quarter and still missed a couple threes that could've swung the game and ultimately won them the contest. But Bridges ended the night with 18 points while shooting a very efficient 8-12 from the field and 2-4 from three.

It's hard to come away with many positives after a win like that, yet Bridges finally finding some success is an important silver lining that shouldn't go unnoticed. Maybe Mike Brown's recent comments about finding minutes for him lit a fire under the veteran wing. Now let's see if he can keep it up.

Get Knicks On SI straight to your inbox: sign up for our free newsletter here.

Add us as a preferred source on Google