INDIANAPOLIS — Al Harrington had 31 points and David Lee added 23 points and 17 rebounds to lead the New York Knicks to a 122-113 victory over the Indiana Pacers on Saturday night.
Reserve Wilson Chandler finished with 16 points and eight rebounds, and Quentin Richardson scored 15 for the Knicks, who have won three straight and six of seven. New York (21-25) moved within two games of matching its win total from last season.
T.J. Ford had a career-high 36 points, Danny Granger scored 19 and Mike Dunleavy and Stephen Graham each chipped in 14 for the Pacers. Indiana had its seven-game home winning streak snapped.
The Pacers, who trailed by 19 in the third quarter, made it 116-109 on Ford’s layup with 54 seconds left. The Knicks answered with Harrington’s dunk, and Chris Duhon’s two free throws extended the lead to 121-111.
New York pushed a six-point first-quarter lead to 19 in the second. After the Pacers took a 33-30 advantage on Granger’s 3-pointer early in the period, the Knicks went on a 25-5 run over a six-minute span to open a commanding 55-38 edge. Richardson’s 3-pointer pushed the lead to 63-44.
New York maintained a double-digit lead for most of the third quarter before Granger’s three-point play cut the deficit to nine with 3 minutes left in the period. The Knicks built the lead back to 14, and took a 99-87 edge into the final quarter.
Notes: Knicks C Jared Jeffries suffered a left thigh bruise in the
first quarter and did not return. … The Pacers finished January 7-1. They were trying for their first 8-0 month since Feb. 2000. … Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni didn’t have a problem with Granger making the All-Star team as a reserve over Lee. “There’s a little bit of lag time on guys. David has a little bit of a lag time. Danny has done it for two years,” D’Antoni said before Saturday’s game. Granger was the 17th pick in the 2005 NBA draft and Lee was the 30th. … Longtime Pacers president and current Knicks president Donnie Walsh was in attendance.
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