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Playing on their home court where they are 16-6 this season, the Indiana Pacers lost to the New York Knicks 109-103 on Monday. That's the same Knicks team that is dealing with never-ending drama, six games under .500 and have gone 3-7 in their last 10 games.

Unhappy with Indiana's performance against New York, Pacers fans loudly booed their team. Fans were especially loud in the fourth quarter, where the Pacers made some key defensive mistakes and turned the ball over four times. Those boos didn't fall on deaf ears as Pacers All-Star Paul George expressed displeasure with the fans' negativity on Tuesday.

From the Indianapolis Star's Jim Ayello:

"They pay their money, their hard-earned money to watch us play. They got the right to do whatever they want," George said after practice Tuesday. "It doesn't hurt me. It doesn't hurt my feelings. Just know we work harder off of cheers than boos."

...

"Obviously, I get it," he said. "The team's not performing, and we're not playing well. (But) it's not like we're out there not giving our all. We want to win just as much as the fans want us to win.

"It doesn't help -- booing us. We want to come out and play hard. We want to play hard for them. It's not like we're just out there to be there. I get it, though. They expect us to be at a high level. I get it. I don't think booing is the solution."

It is hard to argue with George here. Fans are allowed to boo if they want to but booing won't motivate the Pacers. Of course, fans wouldn't be booing in the first place if the Pacers weren't playing so poorly.

Indiana has lost their last three games and have hovered around the .500 mark for most of the season. They also were absolutely dominated in their marquee London game, losing 140-112 to the Nuggets on Jan. 12. The Pacers have a decent defense (14th) and offense (18th) yet just haven't experienced much success this season.

If George wants the Pacers faithful to start cheering, perhaps Indiana should start giving their fans something to cheer for. Otherwise, George and the Pacers may have to get used to the booing all season long.