Knicks defensive performance vs. Pacers, Haliburton a step in the right direction

“Get your rest. You’re going to need it.”

That was the message Josh Hart sent to All-Star guard Tyrese Haliburton ahead of the Knicks’ dominant 25-point victory over the Indiana Pacers on Friday.

Hart and Haliburton forged a bond as teammates on USA Basketball’s FIBA World Cup 2023 roster, and ahead of their first regular-season meeting, Hart sent a friendly reminder to his buddy with a bit of pre-game advice.

“I texted him earlier and told him he should get a game-day nap, that a game-day nap would be very beneficial,” Hart said with a grin. “So maybe it was the nap that did it. I don’t know if he took one.”

Whether Haliburton followed through on Hart’s advice or not, the results favored the Knicks.

Haliburton, a known perimeter threat and bona fide playmaker for the Pacers, shockingly went scoreless in 26 minutes. He missed all eight of his attempts from the field and had a dismal 0-of-7 performance from beyond the arc.

“That’s crazy. I would have never thought,” veteran guard Cameron Payne told The Daily News. “But I guess we just did our job as a team, and that’s how you win games.”

The Knicks, coming off an embarrassing defensive showing in Boston, responded by locking down Indiana, holding the Pacers to just 98 points.

The Pacers made only three of their 30 attempts from downtown — a complete turnaround from the Celtics game, where Boston tied an NBA record with 29 made threes in a 24-point blowout to open the season.

This defensive resurgence started with stifling Haliburton, the head of the Pacers’ offense. The Knicks had four key defenders rise to the occasion and take on the challenge.

“We just tried to make it tough on him, man,” said Hart. “He’s a hell of a player. He’s an All-Star, but our biggest thing was it started with Mikal [Bridges], and OG [Anunoby], and myself, and Deuce [Miles McBride]. Just trying to make it tough on him.”

Karl-Anthony Towns also praised the collective effort.

“Shoutouts to the guards. Shoutouts to the coaches,” Towns added. “They did an amazing job. For a talent like him, we all know what he can do in the NBA. For us to do a job like that tonight speaks to these guys’ resilience, mental toughness, and also their discipline and willingness to take the challenge.”

Even with the Knicks’ defensive success, head coach Tom Thibodeau was quick to acknowledge that the team may have benefitted from a rare off night from one of the league’s brightest stars.

“I think he’s probably as good as it gets in terms of reading the game. I don’t think he forces things. He probably missed the opportunities that he normally makes,” Thibodeau said of Haliburton’s tough outing. “So we tried to guard him as a whole team, but guys like that, you got to try to make them work as much as possible. But he could hurt you in a lot of different ways—not just his scoring, but his passing and his playmaking.”

Payne said the performance was the step in the right direction for a defense learning itself on the fly.

“I just kind of felt like we played together today, offensively and defensively,” he told The News. “We locked into the scout and everything that was on the scout, we executed it well. We had a lot of energy, a lot of effort today. That’s what it’s gonna take when we play these star guys. But we were at home today so I think we had a lot of juice. We were all on one accord today, everybody was locked in on the scheme on the game plan and I think we executed it well.”