Nick Spagnuolo
PUR3463 Writing Assignment #2
New York Knicks Game Preview
Julius Randle and the New York Knicks are set to face off against Victor Oladipo’s Indiana Pacers on Friday, Feb. 21 at 7:30 p.m.
Both teams will be fresh off the All-Star Break, so expect a high energy eastern conference matchup.
The season series is tied a one a piece between these two teams, so what will it take for one team to have an extra leg up on the other?
In their last meeting on Feb. 1, the Knicks beat the Pacers 92-85 led by Marcus Morris’ 28 points, who was just recently traded to the Los Angeles Clippers. On the other hand, the Pacers were held back by Oladipo, who shot 2-14 from the field and only recorded seven points in 22 minutes.
If the Pacers want to a shot a revenge, Oladipo will have to step his game up. A full recap of that game can be found here: https://www.espn.com/nba/game?gameId=401161370
Back on Dec. 7, the Pacers were led by T.J. Warren and Doug McDermontt’s red-hot shooting night and beat the Knicks 104-103 nail bitter.
A full recap of that game can be found here: https://www.espn.com/nba/matchup ?gameId=401 160973
The Knicks sitting at 13th place in the east with a record of 17-38, while the Pacers are 32-23 and are sitting at the sixth seed.
New York is seven games back of the eighth seed. The time to make a miraculous run is now. However, the season has been filled with turmoil.
Both head coach David Fizdale and team president Steve Mills have been fired, and the Knicks appear to be a dumpster fire all over again. But people fail to see what is at the core of this team. The young core of the Knicks is their driving force right now.
It is up to R.J. Barrett, Kevin Knox, Frank Ntilikina, Allozo Trier to back up the veteran leadership by Julius Randle and Dennis Smith Jr. bring to this team.
However, they need to get past Victor Oladipo and a Pacers team that is ready to prove they are legit title contenders.
For more information go to https://www.nba.com/knicks/ or https://www.nba.com/ pacers/.
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