East Notes: Knicks, Josh Hart, Wizards, Pacers, Myles Turner

Knicks

Forward OG Anunoby returned and looked good, but it was wing Josh Hart who utterly dominated in Tuesday’s rout of the shorthanded 76ers. Hart recorded 20 points, a whopping 19 rebounds and 10 assists as the Knicks started to resemble themselves again.

“I think we played to our strengths,” Hart told reporters. “I think we played faster. We took care of the ball. We rebounded the ball. We cut, we moved, we got good shots.”

Anunoby hadn’t played since Jan. 27 because of a right elbow injury and ensuing surgery. He scored 14 in his return.

“It felt great. It’s been a while,” Anunoby said. “Missed playing here, missed the fans, missed my teammates.”

• In the event you forgot, the Sixers beat the Knicks by a 79-73 count Sunday in a game that appeared to be straight out of 1994. It was the lowest-scoring contest of the NBA season. In this one, the Knicks shot 50.6% from the field and 35% on 3-pointers.

Wizards

The Wizards failed in their bid to win three straight for the first time this season when they lost to the host Grizzlies on Tuesday.

Washington trailed by as many as 25 and never led.

“I have to take it on me,” interim coach Brian Keefe told reporters. “I didn’t have the group ready to play from the start. We had a terrible first half. We weren’t ready to go.”

That said, the Wizards did battle back to cut the massive deficit to 94-88 with 5:24 to go.

“We changed our mentality,” Keefe said. “We came out and played with an aggressive mindset.”

• Kyle Kuzma led the way with 24 points and Corey Kispert added 22. If there are two players the Wizards intend to keep moving forward, those two fit the bill. Same goes for rookie Bilal Coulibaly and forward Deni Avdija.
• In case you missed it, the Wizards are adding draft-and-stash prospect Tristan Vukcevic. You can read the details here.

Pacers

Center Myles Turner suggested the Pacers’ road win over the Thunder wasn’t a surprise, despite what some may think.

“We’re a good team that scores a lot of points too,” Turner said. “That’s mostly what this league has come to. The difference tonight was our defense. Whenever we lock in on that side, it’s a different game for us.”

Turner scored 24 points in a true team effort from Indiana — which also featured 18 points and 12 assists from Tyrese Haliburton and 18 points and 11 rebounds from Pascal Siakam.

Coach Rick Carlisle offered special praise to Siakam, acquired in a trade with the Raptors in January.

“Games like tonight are the reason you make a trade for a guy like Pascal Siakam,” Carlisle said. “He can create, he has length defensively, he can affect shots at the rim defensively and he rebounds.”

• Indiana native Gordon Hayward got his first start for the Thunder, scoring nine points in 30 minutes. Hayward was acquired by OKC in February and has appeared in 11 games with the team since then.
• The Pacers held the Thunder to just 43% shooting. “They missed some shots they normally make probably,” Carlisle said. “But our guys were working to make it hard on them.”