The New York Knicks saw the second half run of the Indiana Pacers in Game 1 and raised it on their way to an emphatic 105-79 win on Tuesday night in Game 2 of their best-of-seven series.

The Pacers used a 21-9 run in Game 1, coinciding with Carmelo Anthony’s fourth foul early in the third quarter, to seize control of the game and steal home court advantage. The Knicks bounced back quickly with a dominating 30-2 run, spanning the third and fourth quarters, as they cruised to victory. 

Looking at the final score, you’d assume New York enjoyed a wire-to-wire victory. In reality, the Pacers had a chance to take a 2-0 series lead back home to Indianapolis.

George Hill made a three-pointer with 3:28 left in the third quarter that gave the Pacers a 64-62 lead. The Knicks promptly went on a 10-2 run to end the period and scored the first 20 points of the fourth. What was a six-point deficit entering the final 12 minutes quickly exploded to a 92-66 margin as Tyler Hansbrough stepped to the line and scored his team’s first points of the quarter at the 4:48 mark.

Indiana went 8:07 without scoring a single point in the second half of a road playoff road. That’s the antithesis of the recipe for success. They went 4-for-16 (25 percent) from the field in the fourth, including 2-for-10 from three (20 percent). Meanwhile, the Knicks went 13-for-23 (56.5 percent) overall and 6-for-13 from deep (46.2 percent) as they posted a 33-13 edge in scoring.

The offensive futility of the Pacers combined with a good shooting night for Anthony spelled the end. After a 10-for-28 performance in the series opener, he went 13-for-26 with 32 points. He didn’t settle for jumpers, attacking the rim whenever Roy Hibbert wasn’t on the floor, and his shot selection was much better than it was two days ago.

J.R. Smith struggled yet again (3-for-15), but Iman Shumpert continued to be a difference-maker with 15 points on 7-for-11 shooting. The Pacers can win a game in which Anthony hits 50 percent of his shots, but they can’t allow anyone else to go off. Smith was the only one that struggled as Knicks not named Carmelo or J.R. shot 58.3 percent from the field.

A number of those shots were high percentage looks because…

Keep Calm, Hold Onto The Basketball

Frank Vogel’s club hit a turnover storm at Madison Square Garden. The Knicks took tremendous care of the basketball, committing just six turnovers. The Pacers counteracted that by tripping over themselves, losing hold of the ball 21 times. New York scored 32 points on the miscues, which often allowed them to avoid Indiana’s halfcourt defense.

The main culprit was Paul George, who turned over the ball seven times (he had a single assist). Surprisingly, the Pacers had 12 turnovers in the first half but were able to stay close (the Knicks led 47-42 at the half). They committed just three turnovers in their abysmal fourth, mainly because they took too many jumpers.

Taking It Inside

The Pacers attacked the interior in Game 1 and through the first three quarters on Tuesday night. They have a distinct size advantage with Hibbert and David West, but failed to exploit that in the fateful fourth quarter of Game 2.

They attempted just one shot (and missed) from inside five feet after going 17-for-22 through the first three quarters. The Knicks edged the Pacers 52-40 in the paint overall, which can’t happen with Hibbert and West on the court for close to 80 combined minutes.

Knicks Grab Rebounding Edge

New York held a narrow, but important 37-35 edge on the glass on Tuesday night. Anthony helped with nine rebounds, while wingmen Shumpert and Smith combined for 12 boards. Tyson Chandler and Kenyon Martin had just five of the Knicks' rebounds.

More troubling than the overall numbers were New York’s 13 offensive rebounds. They scored 28 points on second-chances against just eight for Indiana.

The Pacers dominated the rebounding battle in Game 1 (44-30), including 11 offensive rebounds. They killed the Atlanta Hawks on the glass in the first round, even holding a +3 edge over their two losses at Philips Arena.

During the regular season, Indiana was 39-20 when winning the rebounding battle and 8-10 when losing it.

Eight Points, Nine Seconds

It was a shame the Pacers couldn’t create another lasting memory at Madison Square Garden on May 7. Tuesday marked the 18th anniversary of Reggie Miller’s scoring binge, during which he scored eight points in 8.9 seconds. The Pacers topped the Knicks despite trailing 105-99 with 18.7 seconds remaining. Two threes and a pair of free throws later, Indiana had a 107-105 win.

Miller called the game for TNT, a neat coincidence. I remember watching the game as a kid, learning then that no game is truly over until the final buzzer sounds. To this day, I abide by that rule. It’s ironic that the time keeper at the Garden could have sanctioned a running clock with about six minutes left as the Knicks had a series-trying win wrapped up. To paraphrase Rick Pitino, “Reggie Miller was not walking through that door.”

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Before Alex Len underwent surgery on his left ankle last week, the Maryland center and his agent contemplated holding off the procedure, trying to play through the stress fracture in pre-draft workouts and pushing for the No. 1 spot in June’s NBA draft. They eventually decided to stabilize Len’s injury and his future.

Teams won’t have the opportunity to watch Len work out now, and that is the part that disappoints him. In the mind of Len’s agent, had the 19-year-old participated in drills – and matchups against other big men – leading up to the draft, Len could have been the No. 1 pick.

“If he had a chance to work out, I truly believe he could have moved up and gone No. 1,” agent Michael Lelchitski told RealGM. “But people have been watching Alex closely for years and they know about his potential – not just next season, but two, three years into the future.”

Len showed tremendous growth in his second season at Maryland and played like the potential No. 1 pick at times. For most prospects, losing the draft process would put a dent in their standing, but scouts have kept an eye on Len ever since he played in the Ukraine, as one NBA executive said at Maryland’s win over Northwestern in late November.

Still, the timing of surgery on Len’s ankle came weeks before a combine that could have separated him from other potential lottery picks. This is a critical time for all prospects, in a draft void of Nerlens Noel’s availability.

Ultimately, Len was wise not to jeopardize his future for a short-term gain. And most of all, he knew he could have challenged his ankle to perform in workouts, but then this stress injury promised to linger and leave him needing surgery anyway.

“That would have put him behind the eight ball,” Lelchitski said.

Len will soon begin light workouts on the court, where he will be monitored closely to ensure that he isn’t overworking the ankle. With surgery, Lelchitski said, Len fortified his complete health for his pro team come training camp. At 7-foot-1, Len has a chance to become a talented NBA center, but he understands he needs to improve his game and strengthen for the pros.

An ankle injury put Len out of workouts, possibly out of the running for the No. 1 pick, but he still will “definitely” sit down to conduct pre-draft interviews with teams, Lelchitski said. Len has been speaking English for just over a year, and yet this will be a chance to sell his character and demeanor to organizations.

“Alex will be all about full disclosure,” Lelchitski said. “This will give these teams a great opportunity to get to know him.”

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Winning the Atlantic Division and advancing to the second round of the playoffs, the New York Knicks are once again relevant for basketball reasons. Much of that is because of the performance of Carmelo Anthony. He’s played great for the Knicks, enjoying his best season since joining the Knicks in 2011. But as good as Anthony has been, he needs to be better in a hurry.

There is no doubt that Anthony can score the ball. On any given night he’s capable of scoring 40 points, but what else can he do? What else is he willing to do?

Through the Knicks’ first seven playoff games, the 28-year-old has taken 188 shots while only recording 12 assists. He’s shooting 38 percent from the field and has almost twice the number of turnovers (22) as assists. A player with those types of statistics is most frequently called a gunner or volume shooter. Never would that player be considered great or the right guy to lead a team to a championship.

Anthony, however, has managed to avoid heavy criticism for his style of play. It’s hard to argue with the results of the regular season and there’s no doubt he’s the team’s catalyst. The time, however, has come for Anthony to make plays that don’t require him taking so many shots. That approach was good enough to get the Knicks past the older Celtics; it won’t work against the Indiana Pacers. Anthony is going to need to create scoring opportunities for his teammates.

Many times scoring is viewed as the only way for a star player to help their team. Making the play somehow becomes scoring the basket. With that type of mentality, a player is going to shoot as many shots as they need to get points. But that doesn’t help a team win, one guy taking the majority of the shots never does. Anthony isn’t LeBron James, but he could become a more effective player by adapting elements from the game of the league’s MVP.

James makes plays and controls the game without shooting his team out of it; I believe Anthony is capable of doing the same thing. Great scorers can quickly identify and attack a scoring opportunity. Great players understand that taking the shot isn’t always the best play. Anthony can see scoring opportunities two plays ahead, what he now needs to do is show a willingness to make the pass. Ideally, Anthony would shave two or three shots per game off his average in exchange for two or three assists. Otherwise, Anthony turns himself into just another player.

I’ve always had the opinion that any player in the league can get hot and have a good night. Most players would score a lot of points if they had the freedom to hoist a bunch of shots. The special players separate themselves from the average league guy by impacting the game in a multitude of ways, not just scoring or shooting a lot of shots. If they get hot they score 50 or 60. If they take over 25 shots, well, they score 50 or 60. There’s nothing great about Anthony taking 28 shots from the floor to get 27 points (including six points from the free-throw line). Anthony cannot truly become a great player until he consistently makes great plays that go beyond simply scoring. The championship chances of the Knicks depend on Anthony’s willingness to do more than shoot the ball.

There is a big difference between being a great scorer and a great player. The playoffs give Anthony an opportunity to show everyone which category he fits into.

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