The Indiana Pacers have responded favorably since sustaining a narrow loss to the New York Knicks last month.
Winners of eight of their last 10 games, the Pacers aim to exact a bit of revenge on Wednesday night when they visit the Knicks at Madison Square Garden.
Myles Turner collected 29 points, nine rebounds and four blocks to lift Indiana to a 116-111 victory over the Charlotte Hornets on Saturday.
Winning close games is nothing new for the Pacers, who have recorded single-digit margins of victory on seven occasions over the last 10 games.
Suffice it to say, there’s a level of trust that Indiana coach Rick Carlisle has in Turner. Carlisle on Saturday compared the 26-year-old center to one of the franchise’s all-time greats in six-time All-Star Jermaine O’Neal.
Turner is averaging career-high bests in points (17.0), shooting percentage (55.2) and rebounds (7.9).
Buddy Hield, who scored 21 points on Saturday, matched Aaron Nesmith with a team-high 23 in the Pacers’ 109-106 setback to the Knicks on Dec. 18.
Jalen Brunson scored 30 points in that game and erupted for a career-high 44 on Monday. However, he was left lamenting a few of his mistakes during the fourth quarter of a 111-107 setback to the Milwaukee Bucks on Monday.
Immanuel Quickley started in place of the injured RJ Barrett (hand) and finished with 23 points. Quickley made 9 of 14 shots from the floor.
Julius Randle, who collected 25 points and 14 rebounds in the previous encounter versus Indiana, had 25 and 16, respectively, on Monday.
Good numbers to be certain, however he missed his first eight attempts from 3-point range and finished 1 for 12 from beyond the arc.
Randle was quite succinct when summing up his performance.
