New York Knicks down Philadelphia 76ers 85-79 - NBA Recap
New York Knicks, one of the stronger teams in the league have not performed up to their potential so far this season. They lost to a much weaker team Charlotte Bobcats and that caused the team a lot of embarrassment.
However, Knicks are getting better with time, and that showed when they took on the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday night. Although they were again erratic with their shooting, New York used a rock solid defence to restrict the Sixers to just 79 points and
capitalized to win the game 85-79.
"Philly is one of the hottest teams in the NBA right now. For us to hold them to 79 points, that's a big deal” said Carmelo Anthony of Knicks after breaking the 76ers six game winning streak.
Anthony led the Knicks with a game high 27 points, 9 rebounds and 5 assists. Amar’e Stoudemire had a double-double with 20 points and 10 boards and was by some distance the most accurate of all the players (8 for 14) from the floor. Reserve Josh Harrellson
had 13 points while Iman Shumpert netted 10. Tyson Chandler failed to produce a decent tally but pulled down 13 rebounds.
"I'm just excited about the way the defence is playing, because I know coach D'Antoni's offense, it's going to get going," said centre Tyson Chandler, who had a bloodied nose after taking a third-quarter whack.
Knicks really had their defence to thank as it covered for their horrendous 24 turnovers and an ordinary 41.6% shooting from the floor.
Andre Iguodala and Evan Turner led the 76ers with 16 points apiece. Jrue Holiday registered 13 while Thaddeus Young pounded 12 points. Elton Brand had a double-double with 11 points and 10 boards.
After scores were levelled at 15 midway through the first frame, Knicks strengthened their defence and on the other hand rattled a 13-0 spurt, capped by Anthony’s jumper to end the frame with complete domination at 28-15.
They took the momentum into the second frame and managed to maintain a double-digit lead 45-35 at the end of the first half as well.
They were in a commanding position in the first four minutes of the third period, ahead by 54-45. The 76ers finally managed to penetrate the Knicks defence after that and fuelled an 11-4 run to get within striking distance, only behind by 2 points 56-58.
Unfortunately, they failed to grab the opportunity and froze again, allowing Knicks to finish the third frame with a 9-0 run.
The pressure of eliminating a double digit deficit in the deciding quarter proved too much for 76ers in the deciding frame and they never really managed to get even close to Knicks. New York didn’t have too much trouble closing out the game at 85 – 79.
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