When the Knicks lost to the Boston Celtics on Tuesday, it wasn’t because of bad offense. While things looked stagnant at times, they had an offensive team rating of 119.8, which is pretty solid.

They got the snot for having a 145 defensive rating.

The starting lineup was offensively dynamic, posting an offensive rating of 130.0 in 14 minutes.

They had a staggering defensive rating of 170.0.

The Knicks were bombarded all night. 39 minutes into the game, the Celtics were 29-for-48 from deep. An impossible percentage. Chasing the all-time record, the Celtics scored thirteen in a row. While the overall defense there was poor, it seemed to spell good juju for the next game.

The Pacers were the only other team that I thought was capable of mounting the kind of offensive attack that the Celtics did against the Knicks. I thought Friday would tell us a lot about this team, at least early on.

They responded.

After being teased for a 145.1 defensive rating in Boston, they had a 100.0 against the Pacers. They held the Pacers to a pace of 97.5 possessions. Last year the Pacers had the second-best offense and the second-fastest pace. The Knicks did something unthinkable: they slowed (and stopped) the Pacers’ offense.

Indiana scored 98 points on Friday. The last time the Pacers were held to 98 or less in the regular season? March 24, 2023 (Indiana was held to 90-95 points four times last postseason, but the slow pace of the playoffs helped in part).

How did they do this? An amazing turnaround in fortunes from the city center. After Boston shot 60% from deep before the cleanup crew was sent in, the Pacers shot 10% (not a typo) from deep against the Knicks.

Indiana did miss some of the shots they probably take most other nights (and Boston certainly takes on Tuesdays). That said, there was clearly a point of interest.

It also helps that even though Indiana has as much firepower as Boston, they can beat themselves. While the reigning champs are disciplined and don’t feel like the shot clock is down to eight seconds, the Pacers are the opposite. Hart’s steady defense forces Nesmith into a trip here as he tried to catch the defense sleeping.

It’s enough to make a grown man cry. Force the ball out of Hali’s hands, Nembhard drives onto a bigger defender and Anunoby makes one Good range. From there it just dives onto the floor and scatters them.

“Mathurin, likes the match with Payne.”

It’s like Cam Payne heard the announcer insult him. This is pure iso ownership for Mathurin. Look how stagnant the other four Pacers are. Payne has to guard a bigger defender one-on-one and force a turnover. It’s beautiful stuff.

This is team defense. Brunson stays upright to avoid a blocking foul as Nesmith crashes into his chest. Staying in front of him also slows down the shot attempt, allowing Towns to get over the block. Brunson may not be a physically gifted defender, but he is one of the smartest players in the NBA.

Cam Payne with another big defensive highlight. First, he picks up the Turner screen and immediately fights over it. KAT takes Haliburton while Payne sneaks in to undress him. That 6-foot wingspan is a plus defensively. Haliburton was terrible all game, missing open shots and committing bad turnovers.

A good attack by Indiana gave Siakam a clean look, but he missed. An offensive rebound put the Knicks out of position, but watch Josh Hart recover. He knows Nembhard wants to swing the ball to Haliburton in the corner and doesn’t commit too much, leading to a match against Haliburton, who missed another three. By letting a cold shooter put his foot down because you sold out Nembhard, you get him going.

An underappreciated issue on defense against Boston was the long rebounds that led to second chances with the entire team out of position. Here Mikal Bridges is ready for Siakam’s feed to Haliburton and gets a good match. Honestly, I think this was just a terrible shooting night for Indiana, missing a lot of open shots. That said, there were fewer “wide open” shots like Boston had.

A big takeaway from the Celtics game was how quiet OG Anunoby was. He did his job defensively against Jaylen Brown, but that wasn’t easy when Bridges got smoked by Tatum and the team as a whole was crushed. Against Indy, he had a 90.0 defensive rating and had a handful of deflections with this steal. His fourteen points were the lowest in the starting five, but it is reasonably all he has to do.

Frankly, Indiana had some really stupid assets. This is a heat check shot if you have 30. Haliburton was 0-for-6 from the field when he decided to do this. This, along with a few possessions of trying to catch the defense sleeping and general ‘playing fast’, hurts them. Hali releases the ball with 13 on the shot clock and it’s a step back. What?

They tried this a few times in Beantown and failed repeatedly. Off the Jackson screen, they blitz McConnell. Here, because of the way they are played, he has two options. Jackson is relatively open with only JB in the way and Sheppard on the wing. However, Sims’ good awareness gets him dropped and has McBride crowding McConnell to take away any quick passes from whoever McConnell is throwing it to. Brunson gets a decent match on Sheppard.

The game has completely run away from Indiana and when you take shots like that? Not surprising.

All starters had a defensive rating below 103 on Friday, with Jalen Brunson having a remarkable 77.0 when he was on the field. Indiana would have been held below 90 for the first time in nearly two years if they weren’t on the bench against a lineup that included Jacob Toppin and Tyler Kolek.

Despite the Pacers being ice cold anyway, the Knicks ultimately were much more attentive in this game. You didn’t see any of those threes with loss of coverage. Indiana tried them, but the Knicks were a lot better at fighting for screens. They also stayed away from unnecessary blitzing and doubling, and also took advantage of a Pacers team that was extremely sloppy and always played at a million miles per hour.

Just as the season opener wasn’t fully representative of this team, we can’t expect the kind of performance we saw in the home opener every night. Indiana missed some open looks and shot itself out of the game. It happens. The takeaway from this is that the Knicks looked committed and determined after being caught with their pants down in Boston on Opening Night. We’ll see if this continues tomorrow in Cleveland. LGK.