Knicks, Pacers eye rebound from rough defeats

Two teams eager to bounce back from disappointing losses meet when the Indiana Pacers face the visiting New York Knicks on Tuesday in Indianapolis.Both teams have had two days to regroup since losing on Saturday. New York fell 131-104 at home to the Boston Celtics, while Indiana trailed early and never recovered in a 124-117 loss to the host Los Angeles Lakers.The Knicks viewed the matchup against Boston as a chance to see how they measured up against the Eastern Conference power, but the Celtics dominated in every aspect. Boston shot 54.1 percent from the field and 19 of 39 (48.7 percent) from 3-point range.”We’ve got a lot of work to do. Simple as that. There’s no sugarcoating it. There’s no moral wins,” Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns said. “If we’ve got aspirations, which I know we do, then we’ve got to find ways to win games like (that one).”Jalen Brunson scored 36 points to lead the Knicks against Boston, but Towns was held to a season-low nine points on 3-for-8 shooting from the field.New York played without forward OG Anunoby, who is expected to miss his fourth straight game with a sprained right foot.Saturday’s loss was just the second in the last nine games for the Knicks, who boast the fifth-best record in the NBA but have struggled against the league’s elite teams.”I feel like we’re too much of a roller coaster right now,” Brunson said. “We have these great games where we look great, then we have games where we’re like, ‘What the hell was that?’ I feel like we are still trending in the right direction, like we’re still moving up. But it’s like we have highs and lows and we are still going the right way, but I’m just like, ‘If you could just be more consistent.'”The Knicks have split their first two meetings this season against Indiana, which has gone 19-7 since Dec. 13 to move into fourth place in the East.