Crawford’s basket beats buzzer and Pacers

Crawford, who also hit the game-winning bucket on Wednesday in a 96-94 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers, ended with 25 points. Nate Robinson added 16 points, scoring nine in the fourth quarter, for the Knicks, who have won two in a row after losing nine straight.

Peja Stojakovic had 32 points and seven boards for the Pacers, who have lost six of seven but remained just one-half game behind the Milwaukee Bucks for the sixth playoff spot. The Bucks lost to the Memphis Grizzlies, 100-90, on Friday night.

New York entered the fourth quarter down 72-68, but scored the first six points of the frame to forge ahead 74-72. Indiana regained the advantage after a Jermaine O’Neal three-point play, only to see the Knicks score the next 10 points to build a comfortable cushion, 84-75. A David Lee bucket with just under six minutes to play capped the 16-3 run that started the quarter for New York.

Indiana, however, crept back into the game thanks to the sharp-shooting of Stojakovic, who hit three three-pointers down the stretch. His final one drew the Pacers within 94-92 with 1 1/2 minutes left.

Then, still down two points, Stephen Jackson had his runner fall in with just 8.5 second left to tie the game at 96-96.

The Knicks, though, opted not to call their final timeout and Crawford brought the ball over half court, got the one-on-one matchup with Jackson and hit the long jumper as time appeared to expire.

"It feels good," said Crawford. "You hate to be in that position because we were up."

"I love that moment," he added. "I honestly do. My coaches and teammates have a lot of confidence in me and that makes me feel better."

The officials put half a second back on the clock, but the Pacers couldn’t connect on the inbounds pass.

"The way it happened, there were some guys open for a split second," said Indiana head coach Rick Carlisle of the final chance. "The timing was just off enough that we couldn’t get anything."

O’Neal ended with 25 points, six rebounds and four blocks and Jackson had 17 points for Indiana, which lost despite shooting 47.4 percent from the floor and 11-of-24 from three.

Qyntel Woods had 13 points and Eddy Curry had 12 points and six boards for the Knicks, who led 21-18 after one quarter and 49-46 going into halftime.

Game Notes

New York improved to 15-24 at home this season...Indiana fell to 13-25 on the road...The Knicks lead the season series 2-1 against the Pacers...Steve Francis had just three points for the Knicks.