NEW YORK — Wilson Chandler scored 23 points, David Lee added 22 points and 16 rebounds, and the New York Knicks flirted with their biggest victory in franchise history in beating the Indiana Pacers 132-89 on Sunday night.
Danilo Gallinari finished with 20 points and eight rebounds for the Knicks, who led by 48 points — the largest lead in the NBA this season — and won for the 10th time in 15 games over the last month. Their second straight victory was never in doubt, as they never trailed and led by double digits for nearly the final 44 minutes.
The Knicks' largest victory is by 48 points, done three times. New York still led this one by 48 with 3:15 remaining. The largest lead in the NBA this season had been 45 by Golden State over Minnesota on Nov. 9, according to STATS LLC.
Luther Head scored 18 points for the Pacers, who snapped an eight-game losing streak by beating Minnesota on Saturday but never had a chance for consecutive wins. With Troy Murphy resting a sprained left ankle and the demoted T.J. Ford sitting near him on the bench, the Pacers who did play were completely overmatched.
Nate Robinson and the rest of the reserves played the final quarter as the Knicks improved to 14-20 — quite a turnaround after a 3-14 start.
The Knicks opened a 9-0 lead and made eight of their first 11 shots, the last one emphatically. Gallinari faked a jumper and drove into the lane, rising over 7-foot-2 Roy Hibbert as he came to help and slamming it down for a 20-5 lead.
Robinson entered a few minutes later to a loud ovation, his first home game since Dec. 1. He was nowhere near as sharp as he was Friday in Atlanta, when he was given a chance after being benched the previous 14 games and responded with 41 points in the Knicks' 112-108 overtime victory over the Hawks.
He finished with only six and shot just 2 of 11, but he remains the most popular Knicks player — even among other popular New Yorkers. Shown on TV at halftime, actor Dustin Hoffman unfolded a picture of Robinson to show the camera.
"I'm so glad they put Nate back in," Hoffman said during a halftime interview.
The Knicks didn't get anything special from Robinson this time. Four players already had at least 14 points in New York's highest-scoring first half of the season, while he had only six in 9 minutes.
Indiana's Jim O'Brien made his own lineup shakeup, making Earl Watson the starting point guard, rookie A.J. Price his backup and dropping Ford from the rotation. The new lineup produced a victory over Minnesota, but Watson shot 4-of-12 for nine points. Price scored 11.
After racing to a 38-16 lead after one, the Knicks followed with their biggest second period of the season. They scored 36 in the quarter, with Chandler's follow shot with 5.7 seconds left making it 74-42 — a season-high, 32-point advantage for a half.
Lee and Gallinari each had 16 in the half, while Chandler and Harrington had 14 apiece. Duhon then scored 12 in the third quarter, which ended with the Knicks leading 107-62.
Notes
The Knicks' last 48-point victory was a 130-82 rout of Philadelphia on April 21, 1994.