Why It's Not Time to Panic About Knicks Despite Loss to Pacers

Nobody expected a 6-6 start from the defending NBA and NBA Cup champions, and Friday's 106-104 loss to the Pacers at Gainbridge Fieldhouse made it two losses in a row for the New York Knicks while dropping them to 0-2 in NBA Cup group play.

Even so, this is not the time to panic.

The Knicks trailed 85-74 in the third quarter before a 10-0 run cut it to 85-84 going into the fourth.

Indiana pulled away again, and forward Pascal Siakam's jumper made it 106-98 with 1:49 left, but the Knicks scored the last six points and had a chance to tie before center Karl-Anthony Towns missed a 15-foot jumper in the final second.

Guard Jalen Brunson finished with 33 points and 11 assists, Towns added 23 points and 15 rebounds, and guard Mikal Bridges scored 18 on 8-of-12 shooting.

The game was lost in the details, as the Knicks went 16-of-46 from three, made only 10 of 13 free throws to Indiana's 18 of 25 and gave up 17 offensive rebounds.

Head coach Mike Brown pointed to those areas after the game.

"We were lucky a little bit, and our guys did fight to give us a chance down the stretch. But I don't care who you play, it's going to be hard to win a game on the road when you lose the possession game like we did, if we get blown by on defense as bad as we did, if you let your opponent win the physicality battle like we did. It's all a recipe for a loss."

Brown has every right to be upset, but the larger trend looks good.

The Knicks are allowing 103.7 points per game, second-fewest in the league, with the fifth-best defensive rating, and they are outscoring teams by 6.1 points per game.

Every one of their six losses has come by nine points or fewer, which is what a good team in a bad stretch looks like to me.

Towns has opened the season with 12 straight double-doubles, a new franchise record that broke a mark Willis Reed had held since 1970.

Bridges, who Brunson came to the defense of during a slow start, had a strong night in Indiana.

The Knicks also opened 0-3 before winning six of their next seven, so they have already turned one slow stretch around.

New York plays at Toronto on Nov. 15 and Nov. 17 and at Minnesota on Nov. 19 before coming home to face Portland on Nov. 21 and Indiana on Nov. 22.

After that, Cup group games against Cleveland on Nov. 25 and Miami on Nov. 27 will decide whether the Knicks have any shot at the knockout round.

This roster won a title, the defense has been a strength all season, and the team has a clean injury report since guard Josh Hart returned.

Close losses like these tend to even out.

If the Knicks clean up the rebounding and free throw gaps Brown talked about, I think this 6-6 start will look like a bump in the road by the time the Cavaliers come back to town.