INDIANAPOLIS — The Knicks were missing several perimeter players Saturday night, both old and new, with RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley jettisoned in a trade and prized newcomer OG Anunoby not yet with them following his acquisition from the Raptors earlier in the day.
Anunoby is expected to arrive in time for Monday’s New Year’s matinee against the Timberwolves at the Garden, but with the deal leaving them temporarily undermanned, the Knicks completed a dreadful 0-3 road trip with a 140-126 loss to the Pacers at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
Donte DiVincenzo netted a career-high 38 points and combined with Julius Randle (28) and Jalen Brunson (28) for 94 within Tom Thibodeau’s shortened eight-man rotation for the Knicks, who have slipped to 17-15 and a half-game behind the Pacers into the eighth play-in position in the Eastern Conference standings.
All-Star point guard Tyrese Haliburton scored 22 points and dished out a career-best and franchise-record 23 assists for Indiana — for back-to-back 20-20 games.
He even appeared to talk smack to MSG broadcaster Wally Szczerbiak late in the fourth quarter. Szczerbiak had called Haliburton a “wannabe fake All-Star” during a broadcast last season, but he admitted on the air during Saturday’s game that “it wasn’t my finest hour” and he was “dead wrong.”
Obi Toppin added nine points and eight rebounds in 20 minutes in his first game against the Knicks since a summertime trade.
The former Knicks lottery pick had started 27 of the Pacers’ first 28 games, but he came off the bench for a third straight game.
Shooting guard Quentin Grimes also was sidelined with a non-COVID illness, and reserve big man Jericho Sims was announced as available after missing the previous six games with an ankle injury but didn’t play.
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Little-used veteran Evan Fournier was forced into action for only the second time this season. He finished with 10 points in 17 minutes in his first appearance since Nov. 17.
With Quickley gone, Miles McBride also was back in Thibodeau’s shortened rotation as Brunson’s backup.
Following an ugly 1-for-18 start from long distance in Friday’s loss in Orlando — and a 6-for-30 night overall from beyond the arc — Hart, Randle and Brunson nailed early 3-pointers as the Knicks jumped out to a quick 13-4 advantage.
DiVincenzo added another triple for an 11-point cushion, but the Pacers also heated up from the outside and used treys by Aaron Nesmith and Bennedict Mathurin to fuel a 21-8 run to close the quarter for a 32-27 lead through one.
Indy led by as many as seven in the second quarter, with Toppin netting five points, but DiVincenzo’s late dunk on a feed from Brunson gave him 15 points in the half to match Randle’s total to cut the Pacers’ lead to 64-62 at intermission.
Fournier also drained two of the Knicks’ nine 3-pointers in the half for six points in 10 minutes.
The Pacers stretched their cushion to eight on another 3-ball by Nesmith just past the midpoint of the third, and to 13 with under two minutes to play on long-range hoops by Turner and Nesmith and a flush by Toppin.
Randle, who had expressed frustration with the officiating after the previous two games on the trip, was assessed a technical foul for arguing in the final minute of the third as the Pacers held a 105-92 lead into the final quarter.
