Karl-Anthony Towns scores 40 and Josh Hart has 30 to lead Knicks past Pacers 128-115

By Canadian Press on February 11, 2025.

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Karl-Anthony Towns had 40 points and 12 rebounds, Josh Hart added 30 points and 10 rebounds and the New York Knicks beat the Indiana Pacers 128-115 on Tuesday night.

New York won in Indianapolis for the first time since April 2023. The Knicks lost all three road games in last season’s seven-game Eastern Conference semifinal series against the Pacers.

Towns scored 24 points in the first half, making 9 of 12 from the field. He was 14 of 23 from the field, while Hart did most of his damage in the second half and wound up 12 of 16 from the field.

Three-time All-Star Pascal Siakam had 24 points for Indiana. Thomas Bryant started in place of the injured Myles Turner (strained neck) and had 18 points and nine rebounds. Bennedict Mathurin also had 18 points.

New York swung what been a back-and-forth game with a 10-0 second-quarter run as the Knicks took a 68-60 halftime lead. Indiana cut the deficit to 89-85 late in the third quarter, but New York pulled away late.

Takeaways

Knicks: Coach Tom Thibodeau’s squad didn’t miss a beat even without injured forward OG Anunoby and even on a night Jalen Brunson was in serious foul trouble. Towns and Hart carried them to the victory.

Pacers: Indiana was hoping to regain some momentum after losing two of their final three on a four-game road trip. But the Pacers struggled to find a stopper against Towns or Hart and shot poorly from 3-point range.

Key moment

Indiana was still within 103-95 early in the fourth, but the Knicks answered with seven straight points and the Pacers never recovered.

Key stat

New York cashed in on its 48-36 rebounding advantage by outscoring Indiana 19-6 on second-chance points.

Up next

New York heads into the All-Star break following Wednesday’s home game against Atlanta while the Pacers hit the road Wednesday to play Washington.

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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/NBA

Michael Marot, The Associated Press