LOS ANGELES, 29 November 2003 — Though the Indiana Pacers went back in time and donned uniforms matching those worn by the 1972 and ’73 ABA championship teams, they relied on their two current stars to continue their NBA-best winning ways.
Jermaine O’Neal had 27 points and 11 rebounds, while Ron Artest scored 21 points, powering the streaking Pacers to their seventh consecutive victory, 93-70, over the turn-over prone New York Knicks.
“I want to win and I know he wants to win,” said O’Neal of Artest. “We’re on the same page.”
“We may be the one-two punch but it’s not just that,” Artest pointed out. “It’s not just me and Jermaine, it’s everybody. We feed off each other by playing hard and helping each other out.” Al Harrington scored 12 points and Reggie Miller finished with nine for host Indiana, which ran its league-best mark to 13-2.
“We have a good little streak going on right now,” Miller said. “And we don’t want to mess or break that.”
Kurt Thomas had 12 points and nine rebounds as the sloppy Knicks had their season-high three-game winning streak snapped after committing 25 turnovers leading to 27 Pacers’ points.
“You can’t have turnovers and miss shots against a team like that,” Knicks coach Don Chaney said. “The window’s not that wide. You have to play flawless basketball. That’s why they’re good, they take things away from you.”
The Knicks were also hampered when leading scorer Allan Houston got into early foul trouble and finished with just eight points on 2-of-9 shooting.
“We were put in a tough situation when Allan got into early foul trouble,” Thomas said.
“We hung in there for the rest of the first half and still managed to be down 12 at half-time. But Jermaine and Ron played great.”
O’Neal scored 14 of his 16 first half points in the opening quarter, helping Indiana build a 26-19 advantage. Artest added nine in the second frame, extending to 52-40 at half-time.
Houston’s two free throws pulled the Knicks to within 56-48 with 8:10 left in the third quarter. But O’Neal and Artest each scored seven points to fuel a game-breaking 18-2 run, giving the hosts their biggest lead of the game, 74-50.
“One thing we’ve been trying to concentrate on is being a very strong third quarter team,” Pacers’ coach Rick Carlisle said.
“Tonight was an example of coming out at a high level in the third quarter.”
With a 78-59 cushion entering the fourth quarter, O’Neal was rested and Artest played just three minutes as the Pacers cruised to the wire-to-wire win.
“They’re tough,” Houston said of the Pacer’s dynamic duo. “They’re the reason that this team is where they are.”
New Jersey Nets 102 L.A. Clippers 96: Kerry Kittles scored 22 points while Jason Kidd had 18 points and 10 assists, as the visiting Nets sent the sliding Clippers to their fifth straight loss. Jason Collins added 14 points for New Jersey, (7-7), which improved to 2-0 on their current five-game road trip that moved the reigning Eastern Conference champions into a first place tie with idle Philadelphia in the Atlantic Division.
Corey Maggette led Los Angeles, scoring all 20 of his points in the second half. Chris Wilcox had 15 points and 10 rebounds, and Quentin Richardson finished with 17, despite a sprained left ankle suffered on Monday.
The Clippers trailed 72-66 entering the fourth quarter but pulled within 80-75 on Doug Overton’s layup midway through the frame. The Nets responded, however. Kenyon Martin hit two free throws and a short jumper to regain control.
They made 14-of-15 foul shots in the final five minutes to wrap up the victory.
