The New York Knicks and Indiana Pacers will do battle on Thursday night as part of the NBA on TNT doubleheader and starts up at 7:00 pm ET from Bankers Life Fieldhouse and comes after NY lost against the Charlotte Bobcats on Tuesday and is a tough test against the top team in the league and comes before an anticipated home game against the Clippers on back to back nights.
The Knicks had been on a nice winning streak before falling to the Bobcats on the road and now they are near the bottom of the playoff standings and while they have been terrible at 15-23 this season, the east has been so bad that they are not totally out of it. The Pacers are 30-7 and looking like the best team in the east and while Miami is close behind, Indiana looks motivated to get the top seed and they really want home court advantage, as they feel that would have been the difference had they had it when they played the Miami Heat last season in the conference finals. The Pacers are hosting the game and are coming in after a win against the Kings and they will play against the Los Angeles Clippers next as well, as they are coming to town on Saturday night.
The Knicks are ranked in the top 10 in points allowed per game this season, but the offense is ranked 25th in scoring with 95 points per game and now they come in looking to get back on track after playing the Bobcats. The Knicks are ranked 29th in the league in rebounding and 20th in assists and now Carmelo Anthony comes in scoring 26 points per game and he will be the main focus on Thursday night.
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The Pacers have the Clippers next after the Knicks game on Thursday and they come into the game ranked first overall in defense in points allowed per game and that means it will be even tougher for the Knicks, who are in a bit of a crisis right now with Mike Woodson and JR Smith. Anthony will be relied on even more on Thursday night and the team knows it has back to back nationally televised games and a flight to deal with over the next day. The team is looking to get back on track after a bad start to the season and so far 2014 has been better, but with tough games coming up the team needs to split this back to back against the Pacers and Clippers.