New York, NY

David West scored 20 points and Paul George added 19 for the Indiana Pacers in a 102-95 victory over the New York Knicks in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.

D.J. Augustin had 16 points off the bench while Roy Hibbert scored 14 points while thoroughly outplaying counterpart Tyson Chandler;

The Pacers also got 14 points, seven rebounds and six assists from George Hill and 11 points and 13 rebounds from Lance Stephenson, as they outworked, outmuscled and outrebounded the Knicks 44-30.

The Knicks closed the first quarter with a 9-0 spurt, taking a 27-22 lead after 3-pointers by Smith and Felton to end the period. But the Pacers tightened up the defense and outscored the Knicks 13-4 in the final five minutes of the second quarter to take a 52-46 lead to halftime.

Indiana led 60-54 when Anthony committed his fourth foul and came out of the game with 7:48 remaining in the third quarter. The Pacers then outscored the Knicks 21-11 the remainder of the period, opening an 81-65 bulge on Augustin's 3-pointer with 31.5 seconds left in the quarter.

Anthony came back on to start the fourth and scored the first six points to get the Knicks back within 10, but picked up a fifth foul with 10 minutes left.

He finished with 27 points and 11 rebounds, shooting 10 of 28 from the field.

Anthony was frustrated by the Pacers' tough defense and was perhaps thrown out of sync having to defend West, a natural power forward, inside.

J.R. Smith scored 17 points but was 4 of 15. Felton had 18 and Kenyon Martin added 12 for the Knicks.

 

Pacers Outmuscle Knicks to take Game 1

 

iHaveNet.com