Knicks Lose 5th Straight Home Opener
Al Harrington snapped out of an early slump with 32 points, and the Indiana Pacers sent the New York Knicks to their fifth straight home-opening loss with a 109-95 victory Saturday night.
Taking advantage of New York's poor defensive effort, Harrington shot 14-of-24 from the field. A key offseason acquisition for the Pacers, he was only 4-for-19 for 12 points in the first two games.
He wasn't the only Indiana player to find things easy Saturday. The Pacers shot 67 percent (25-of-38) in the second half to spoil the first home game of Knicks coach Isiah Thomas.
Steve Francis scored 25 points and Eddy Curry had 22 for New York, which hasn't won a home opener since Oct. 30, 2001. Stephon Marbury had a miserable game, going 1-for-9 for four points.
Thomas coached the Pacers from 2000-03, leading them to three playoff appearances before he was fired by Pacers president Larry Bird and replaced by current coach Rick Carlisle.
Following last season's 23-59 debacle, Thomas acknowledged before the game that the Knicks had to win back the fans. And though the Madison Square Garden crowd got behind New York when it was trying to rally, there were the familiar boos and groans when the Knicks simply couldn't get any stops.
Leading by five at halftime, Indiana hit its first 11 shots in the third quarter.
Maybe the Knicks might have thought about a hard foul or something after all, Thomas was the star of the Detroit "Bad Boy" teams that won consecutive titles fueled by their tough play. But Indiana didn't attempt its first free throw of the game until Harrington made a pair almost halfway through the period.
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