Knicks throttle Pacers in home opener as newcomers shine

The Knicks look a lot better when they’re not playing the Celtics.

A stingy Tom Thibodeau defense, a horrifying night for Tyrese Haliburton and a balanced offensive attack resulted in a 123-98 blowout Knicks home-opening victory over the Pacers Friday night.

It was the opposite three days earlier in a blowout defeat at Boston, an embarrᴀssing performance but with no carryover to the next game.

All felt better at home, especially Mikal Bridges, who was lights out with 21 points on 8 of 12 shooting while locking up Haliburton on defense.

It reached the point of the Garden breaking into a “Let’s Go Yankees” chant immediately after Giancarlo Stanton launched a two-run homer 3,000 miles away against the Dodgers as the World Series got underway; the power of cell phones.

“We kind of knew this would be a good game for us. When you get your ʙuтт kicked on national TV, the next game, you step it up,” said Josh Hart, who finished with 20 points and 10 rebounds. “I think it’s just we laid a big egg that first game. I feel like I didn’t bring it defensively or with energy or stuff like that. One thing I do, whether I make or miss sH๏τs, is having that intensity, that energy. Obviously, home opener, the place was electric. That helped.”

Whereas Jayson Tatum barbecued the Knicks in Boston on Tuesday, Indiana top dog Haliburton went scoreless in 26 minutes.

Only five months ago, Haliburton relished his role as the Garden’s enemy in the second-round playoff series, eliminating the Knicks in seven games and wearing a sweatshirt featuring Reggie Miller’s infamous choke sign.

His encore was a dud.

The Pacers guard missed all eight of his sH๏τs, including seven from beyond the arc.

The Knicks outscored Indiana by 23 points with Haliburton on the floor.

They were up by double-digits for the final 26 minutes and 31 after three quarters.

Haliburton tried to play it off.

“Yeah, I’m straight man,” the Pacers All-Star said. “I’m just not making sH๏τs. It’ll come.”

Haliburton, who was picked for the U.S. Olympic Team over Jalen Brunson, appeared in the summer at the Garden for a WWE show, where he was confronted in the ring by a chair-wielding Knicks point guard.

“I should’ve hit him with the chair,” Brunson joked this week.

Instead, Brunson pummeled Haliburton’s team with basketball moves and plenty of help. Each Knicks starter scored in double-digits, with Bridges and Karl-Anthony Towns (21 points, 15 rebounds) producing exquisitely in their home Garden debuts.

It was a rematch of the last meaningful basketball game at the Garden — a Game 7 Knicks defeat — but hardly a continuation. Of the Knicks players who finished that contest uninjured, only Miles McBride and Jericho Sims played Friday.

Knicks president Leon Rose overhauled the roster with an emphasis on shooting and spacing the floor. His marquee newcomers did their parts.

So did Brunson (26 points, five ᴀssists, five rebounds) and the entire defense (went from giving up 29 3-pointers to the Celtics to just three against the Pacers).

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