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Stoudemire once again paces Knicks in win over Pacers

Jan 2, 2011 - 10:43 PM New York, NY (Sports Network) - Amare Stoudemire led a balanced attack with 26 points and eight rebounds, as the New York Knicks outlasted the Indiana Pacers, 98-92, at Madison Square Garden.

Danilo Gallinari netted 19 points before leaving in the third quarter with a right knee injury for the Knicks, who snapped a two-game slide and won for only the third time in their last eight overall. Raymond Felton ended with 14 points in the victory.

"They played well. They really did," Stoudemire said about the Pacers. "They got after it, loose balls, rebounds, but we were able to catch our second wind in the second half. Third quarter was big for us and fourth quarter we closed them out."

Danny Granger turned in a double-double with 25 points and 17 rebounds for Indiana, which has dropped five of its last seven. Darren Collison donated 22 points in defeat.

"We didn't finish this one well," Granger said. "You can always work to get better. We just turned the ball over down the stretch ."

Deadlocked at 87-all with 4:44 left in the fourth, Wilson Chandler hit a corner three a short time later, but James Posey answered with a triple for a 90-90 game with 3:47 to play.

Felton broke the tie with a free throw and back-to-back Stoudemire baskets from close range put the Knicks up 95-90 with 2:14 on the clock. New York cruised to victory from there.

New York closed the opening quarter with an 8-1 run, but the Pacers -- behind 10 points from Granger -- still held a slim 32-30 edge after 12 minutes.

In a back-and-forth second quarter that saw several lead changes, Granger's two free throws with under a minute to play, knotted the game at 55-55 and it would stay that way heading into the intermission.

The closely contested battled continued in the third, as neither side was able build more than a two-point advantage in the quarter.

It appeared Indiana was going to take a lead into the fourth quarter after a Mike Dunleavy layup with 5.1 seconds left in the third, but Chandler's half- court heave beat the buzzer to give the Knicks a 79-77 advantage after three.

Game Notes

These two teams split a four-game season series a year ago, but despite the loss, the Pacers have still won seven of its last 11 games at Madison Square Garden...New York finished 42.5 percent from the field, while Indiana made only 37.4 percent of its shots.