• Tweet

• Tweet

I cannot, for the life of me, explain the recent surge by the Indiana Pacers as they have won seven of their last nine, prior to their game Wednesday night against the New York Knicks at Conseco Fieldhouse.

If they had played this well around November or December, thye could be chasing a playoff berth in the Eastern Conference; alas, they’re not and are playing spoilers these days. In any event, Danny Granger had another decent night on the hardwood, scoring 33 points and leading Indiana to the 113-105 win over New York; the win is the Pacers’ 10th win in 11 games at Conseco Fieldhouse.

The Knicks went on a 26-8 run to cut Indiana’s lead to 59-57, but the Pacers closed out the second quarter with a 13-2 run spurt to lead 72-59 at halftime. New York started the second half with a 13-2 run to reduce the Pacers’ lead to 75-72, but a flurry of 3-pointers – two by A.J. Price and a trey by Granger – gave Indiana an 88-78 lead.

New York pushed back again and cut the Pacers’ lead to 90-88 at the end of the third quarter, but would never get close again in the remaining twelve minutes of the contest.

Granger led the Pacers with 33 points (including 5 three-pointers), 7 rebounds, 5 assists and a block while Troy Murphy added 17 with 12 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals; Roy Hibbert chipped in 15 with 6 rebounds.

The Knicks’ high scorer was Toney Douglas with 20 points (including 4 treys), 5 rebounds and an assist while Danilo Gallinari added 17 with 3 rebounds and 3 assists; David Lee chipped in 16 with 16 rebounds and an assist while Earl Barron and Bill Walker each scored 15 – with Barron grabbing 9 rebounds, dishing out an assist and blocking a shot while Walker grabbed 6 boards, dished out an assist, along with a steal and a blocked shot.

Indiana (30-48) plays again on Friday when they make the short trip to Cleveland to take on the Cavaliers while New York (28-50) flies south to Orlando to take on the Magic – also on Friday night.