"As their lead stretched into double digits midway through the fourth quarter, it looked as though the Indiana Pacers were about to win their sixth straight game and move into a tie for first place in the Central Division.

Looks, however, can be deceiving.

Reverting to some bad habits that cropped up often last year, the Pacers blew a 19-point lead and fell 110-103 to the New York Knicks on Wednesday night at Conseco Fieldhouse. They were outscored 23-3 late in the fourth, and heard it from their disgruntled fans down the stretch.

"(The 2-9 Knicks) needed a win and just beat the heck out of us in the fourth quarter," said Pacers coach Jim O'Brien, who got testy with some fans behind the bench. "Credit to them. They really used their depth to kind of just wear us down in the second half."

Former Pacer Al Harrington led the Knicks back from the big deficit. The Pacers, who had problems holding onto double-digit leads last season, opened the fourth quarter with a 10-point lead and eventually got it up to as many as 13 when all of a sudden they went from moving the ball to handing it over to the Knicks.

Harrington, who had two stints with the Pacers, made back-to-back 3-pointers to get New York to within one at 97-96.

The Knicks got their first lead since the second quarter when Harrington made 1-of-2 free throws with 2:15 left to make it 99-98. Harrington came off the bench to score 13 of his team-high 26 points in the fourth quarter.

"Al made some good plays," Pacers forward Danny Granger said. "Our offense got stagnant and they just outplayed us down the stretch.""