Knicks Lose Season Finale 102-90, 2015-2016 Season FINALLY Over

New York Knicks 2015-2016 season finally came to end Tuesday night, losing to the Indiana Pacers 102-90.

New York played without superstar Carmelo Anthony in the season finale, joining Kristaps Porzingis, Jose Calderon, and Lance Thomas on the bench in a suit. Cleanthony Early received his second start of the season in Anthony’s place.

The game started off well for the Knicks, as there was no defense being played from either team. Exhibit A: Paul George did a in-game 360 dunk… out of a half-court set…

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So yeah… no defense… The Knicks shot an astonishing 65.2% from the field in the first quarter, converting on nine of their first-ten attempts. Despite New York’s hot-shooting, the Knicks only led by much as eight points, because of their own poor defense.

Literally everybody just did whatever they wanted in the opening period, particularly Derrick Williams and Ian Mahinmi, both of whom scored a dozen points for their respective team in the first quarter. Effectively naturalizing each other. New York led 36-29 after one very entertaining quarter of play.

Unfortunately it would not remain entertaining for the Knicks… as the Pacers clamped down on defense- showing why Indiana is top-six in opponent field percentage. The Pacers held the Knicks to 36.8% shooting after first quarter. Indiana really stepped it up defensively, causing the Knicks to turn the ball over 14-times after the opening period. The Pacers hounded New York, causing nine steals and three blocks as well. The defense really helped ignite Indiana’s offense, leading to 18 fast break points.

New York was able to hold off Indiana from taking the lead in the first half, going into halftime with a one-point lead; 54-53, but that immediately came to an end in the second quarter as George Hill got hot for the Pacers. Hill scored ten-out-of-Indiana’s first-dozen points coming out of halftime. Hill went berserk, going 5-of-5 (2-of-2 three-pointers) from the field, scoring 12 of his team-high 19 points in the third quarter.

Thanks to Hill’s outburst, the Pacers led by as many as 13 points in the third quarter but a mini 5-0 run by the Knicks, cut the lead down to single-digit entering the fourth quarter. Highlighted by Arron Afflalo beating the buzzer to trim the deficit to 79-70.

The fourth quarter, the Knicks did not really put up much. The whole team just looked like they were waiting for the dreadful season to come to an end. And so it did, with the Knicks dropping the game 102-90, finishing the season with a 32-50 record.

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The only thing redeeming about the final game of the season was that Grant and Williams played well. Grant finished the game with 18 points, 6 rebounds, and 6 assists. Grant’s confidence has skyrocketed ever since starting, and it showed again Tuesday night; shooting 7-of-11 from the field, with a couple of three-pointers. Williams was just as effective, going 8-of-11 from the field for 21 points, knocking down four three-pointers in the process.

Next: Jerian Grant Thriving as the Knicks Starting Point Guard

The season has FINALLY mercifully come to an end. Thank God.