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Knicks open season at Garden against Pacers

Nov 4, 2006 - 3:24 PM Indiana (1-1) at New York (1-1) 7:30 pm EST

NEW YORK (Ticker) -- Under the direction of coach Isiah Thomas, the New York Knicks open their 2006-07 season at Madison Square Garden against the Indiana Pacers on Saturday.

Last season, Thomas, who is also the team's president of basketball operations, hired Larry Brown as coach, but that decision backfired as the Knicks finished with a horrible 23-59 record.

During the offseason, Brown was let go and Thomas decided to take over the reigns of the talent-heavy club he built. His debut was on the verge of being dampered when New York failed to maintain a 19-point fourth-quarter lead, but squeezed out a 118-117 triple-overtime victory over Memphis on Wednesday.

The Knicks failed to start 2-0 after a 102-92 setback to the Atlanta Hawks on Friday. Eddy Curry scored 20 points, but grabbed just two rebounds, and Quentin Richardson added 19.

Nate Robinson had 15 points off the bench and Steve Francis collected nine, nine assists and six boards for New York, which shot just 1-of-9 from the arc.

The Pacers dropped their home opener, a 100-91 loss to the New Orleans Hornets on Friday. Jermaine O'Neal netted 25 points and blocked five shots and Stephen Jackson added 14 for Indiana, which was dominated, 53-34, on the boards.

Indiana and New York split their four meetings last season.