IC Cold Links: Indiana Pacers Back To Work After Frustrating Loss To New York Knicks

The Indiana Pacers have five days off before their next game against the San Antonio Spurs on Friday. I assume much of that time will be spent ironing out the kinks in Jim O'Brien's playing rotation as he tries to utilize a smaller, more active lineup.

Things obviously didn't go as planned against the New York Knicks yesterday with foul trouble forcing JOB to shift lineups on the fly. I'm still confused as to why James Posey was thrown at Amare Stoudemire down the stretch after Jeff Foster fouled out. Posey couldn't handle Kevin Garnett last week and had similar problems with the athletic Stoudemire in the post.

Josh McRoberts played pretty well in his second rotation earlier in the game but sat out while Posey struggled.  McRoberts had zero fouls and is athletic enough to physically stand his ground with Stoudemire. He may not have stopped him, but could've at least made him earn it at the line. Obviously, this is straight hindsight but I would've liked to have seen how that scenario played out.

Also, the good news is that Paul George was back in the rotation as expected. The bad news was, he picked up several fouls and was only able to play nine minutes.

Actually, that's good news too. The rookie has to go through those types of tough games, learn how to play with fouls and also earn his stripes. A couple of those five fouls were rookie calls no doubt, but the only way to get past that is to be on the court putting in time. So, despite the headlines in the paper today, I'd say George remains a work in progress, but he made some progress yesterday, despite the outcome.

After the jump, a few links of interest from the game yesterday.

• Box score
• PACERS: Game Rewind: Knicks 98, Pacers 92
  Game Rewind has highlights, analysis, notes, quotes and stats from the Pacers' 98-92 loss in New York Sunday.
• Stoudemire leads Knicks to win over Pacers | The Indianapolis Star
  Mike Wells reports on the Pacers having no answer for Amar'e Stoudemire down stretch yesterday.
• AP: Stoudemire leads Knicks over Pacers 98-92
• Another game gets away from the Pacers | Pacers Insider
  Mike Wells shares his thoughts on the many lineup changes Jim O'Brien went through as the Pacers let another close one slip away.
• Pacers' George regresses by quickly fouling out | The Indianapolis Star
  Mike Wells notes that Paul George struggled in his debut at MSG, Mike Dunleavy struggled to make the game due to illness, and JOB appreciates Shawne Williams overcoming his struggles this season.
• Knicks 98, Pacers 92: "Are we going to have 5 guys left to finish this game?" - Posting and Toasting
  The Knicks open 2011 with a win over the Pacers. It wasn't pretty, but it was a win. A lot of guys got hurt, though.
• Pacers Drop a Winnable Game to the Knicks
  Jared Wade reports from MSG on the Pacers dropping another one late.

• Danilo Gallinari injures knee as New York Knicks record comeback victory over Indiana Pacers
  Frank Isola reports on the Knicks closing out the win yesterday after Gallinari tweaked his knee.

• Stoudemire, Turiaf host 'block' party at Garden - NYPOST.com
  Marc Berman reports on the Knicks guarding the rim quite well when it counted yesterday.
• New York Knicks' Danilo Gallinari sprains knee, hopes to play Tuesday - ESPN New York
  Chris Sheridan reports on the Knicks' win and Rony Turiaf making a case to be a starter.