As they began the stretch run after the All-Star break, Jason Kidd and the New York Knicks were seeking to come out fresh and eliminate some frustration from the way they finished the first half.

Instead, New York continued to struggle, especially on defense, allowing 74 first half points to the Indiana Pacers, who rolled from there to a 125-91 victory. Jason played just 17 minutes in the loss and had three steals, two assists and a rebound.

"We didn’t show up," Woodson added. "They whipped our (butt) from beginning to end. It’s unacceptable. I mean, we just didn’t compete. And that’s on all of us."

The loss was the third straight for the Knicks, including pre All-Star losses to the Clippers and Raptors and dropped them to 5.5 games out of the top spot in the East and just a game ahead of Brooklyn for first in the Atlantic Division.

Veteran center Tyson Chandler was particularly disheartened with New York’s performance on defense. The Knicks allowed the Pacers to shoot 53 percent for the game, including a 64 percent completion rate from their starting five.

"We’re fooling ourselves if we think we’re going to get somewhere playing this kind of defense," Tyson said. "We definitely have to get it together. If we want to accomplish the things that we’ve talked about, we have to play a lot better than this."

NEXT UP
The Knicks get a chance to break their slide on the road Friday night as they head north of the border to Toronto where they’ll face the Raptors.

The last meeting between the two teams was just over a week ago in New York when the Raptors came into Madison Square Garden and shocked the Knicks with a 92-88 win right before the All-Star break. New York will be looking to avenge that loss and get back on track Friday night.

Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. and the game can be seen on MSG.

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