76ers-Knicks Preview

By NICOLINO DIBENEDETTO
Posted Jan 10 2012 11:42PM

So far this season, it's the Philadelphia 76ers and not the New York Knicks who are upsetting the balance in the Atlantic Division.

The Knicks, however, are starting to show signs that they're still capable of doing that.

The 76ers look to match their longest winning streak in three years when they face the Knicks at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday night.

Heading into the 2011-12 season, the Knicks (5-4) were expected to be the main threat to Boston's run of four straight division titles. Instead it's been Philadelphia (7-2) that has taken on that role.

The 76ers lead the Atlantic by two games on second-place New York and are 2 1/2 ahead of the Celtics.

"Our guys came back in great shape, we're young, we're resilient," second-year coach Doug Collins said.

Philadelphia is one victory shy of matching its seven-game winning streak from Jan. 6-17, 2009, after a dominant performance in a 112-83 win over Sacramento on Tuesday.

Elton Brand had 21 points and 10 rebounds after totaling 20 and 15 in his previous three games combined.

His 9.6 points per game is a long way from his career 18.7 average.

"If we win, I'm happy. I always have confidence in my game," Brand said. "I'm not impatient. I knew eventually my time would come where I'll be the go-to guy."

He was certainly that against the Knicks last season, averaging 26.3 points and 9.3 boards as the division rivals split four meetings, including two at MSG.

Another big effort from Brand could give the 76ers a sweep of this stretch of three games in three nights.

Philadelphia has won four of its last six visits to the Garden, despite losing the most recent 117-103 on Feb. 6.

New York enters this matchup with momentum after beating Charlotte 91-87 on Monday for its third straight win.

The Knicks have limited opponents to an average of 87.7 points during the streak. Another strong defensive effort was necessary Monday with New York shooting 38.0 percent from the field while hitting just 1 of 10 3-pointers.

"There's going to be definitely nights where we've got to lean on our defense, but I think once we start clicking we'll be in the upper 100s and these games will be blowouts," said center Tyson Chandler, who made 7 of 8 shots for 20 points while grabbing 13 rebounds.

If the Knicks are going to extend their streak, they'll likely need better shooting performances from Carmelo Anthony and Amar'e Stoudemire.

Anthony leads the Knicks with an average of 26.6 points, but he's been held to 17.5 while making 34.4 percent of his shots over the last two games after topping 30 in each of the previous three. The star forward is also trying to bounce back from one of his worst shooting efforts of the season, making 6 of 18 from the field and 9 of 13 from the line for 22 points Monday.

Anthony had 31 points and 11 rebounds in a 97-92 win at Philadelphia on April 6.

Stoudemire sparked the Knicks' win in the last home meeting with the Sixers, scoring 41 points with four blocks.

He's averaging 23.8 points and 11.0 boards in four games after missing two with a sprained left ankle. Stoudemire matched his season high with 25 points Monday despite shooting 7 of 25 from the field.

Knicks snap 76ers' 6-game winning streak, 85-79

By BRIAN MAHONEY
Posted Jan 11 2012 11:31PM

NEW YORK (AP) The Philadelphia 76ers were beating up on everybody until they couldn't solve the Knicks' sturdy defense.

Yes, you read that right.

New York turned to defense again to overcome another offensive struggle, snapping the 76ers' six-game winning streak with an 85-79 victory on Wednesday night.

"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," Carmelo Anthony said.

Anthony had 27 points and the nine rebounds. Amare Stoudemire added 20 points and 10 rebounds, and rookie Josh Harrellson contributed 13 desperately needed points from the bench as the Knicks won their fourth in a row and improved to two games over .500 for the first time this season.

They've been doing it with defense, mostly absent from Madison Square Garden in recent years, allowing just 85.5 points per game during their win streak. The Knicks figure if that continues, eventually Mike D'Antoni's offense will get rolling.

"I'm just excited about the way the defense is playing, because I know coach D'Antoni's offense, it's going to get going," said center Tyson Chandler, who had 13 rebounds and a bloodied nose after taking a third-quarter whack.

Andre Iguodala and Evan Turner each scored 16 points for the 76ers, who were playing from behind nearly the entire way while trying to become the second team this season to win three games in three nights. They had been outscoring opponents by 16 points per game during their 7-2 start, but they trailed by as many as 17 in this one.

"Only excuse that we have is that they had a little bit of time to prepare for us. They took us out of our sets," forward Elton Brand said. "We're not going to blame the schedule or anything like that. Every team has a tough schedule this season and you have to give them credit. They outplayed us when it counted."

Still, the Knicks could never put it away until Anthony's free throws with 16 seconds left. They have now beaten the 76ers six of the last eight times after losing the previous six. New York visits Memphis on Thursday night.

Jrue Holiday scored 13 points and Thaddeus Young had 12 for the Sixers, who played without starting center Spencer Hawes, who strained his lower back Tuesday night. They shot just 39.5 percent from the field.

"We really missed a guy like Spencer in a game tonight because he's our best passing guy and we like to play out of the post and do some of that stuff. So I was really just trying to work on the fly," Philadelphia coach Doug Collins said. "I was really proud of our guys tonight. Five games in six nights, three in a row. Battle, battle, battle."

Anthony shot only 9 of 24 as the Knicks' offense continued to struggle, but he scored 12 points in the third quarter, providing the Knicks breathing room they would turn out to need when they managed only four baskets in the fourth quarter.

The Knicks got only three points from their bench Monday in a victory over Charlotte, and D'Antoni joked before the game that "we're going for five tonight." Harrellson, a second-rounder from Kentucky, bettered that by himself with seven points in the first quarter.

"A lot of people have been talking about our bench not scoring, bottom half of the league with bench points, and I saw that and I just tried to come off with confidence," Harrellson said.

The Knicks jumped to a 28-15 lead, shooting 57 percent and holding the Sixers to 32 percent. Toney Douglas' 3-pointer to open the second extended the league to 16, but the Knicks stalled from there, and the lead was down to 45-35 at halftime after Iguodala's powerful drive and dunk with 35 seconds left.

The lead was trimmed to four during a chippy third quarter before Anthony accounted for all the points in a 7-0 burst to end the period, making a jumper and two free throws before finding Harrellson for a 3-pointer with 2.3 seconds remaining

Collins said before the game he felt like a baseball manager, with a game seemingly every night, and it seemed to take a toll on his team. The 76ers repeatedly left Harrellson plenty of room, showing either a lack of respect for his shot or lack of commitment to getting out and contesting it.

The Sixers eventually showed plenty of fight, with Tony Battie getting a flagrant foul for whacking Chandler in the face in the third quarter and Iguodala and Anthony drawing double technical fouls less than two minutes later when they got tangled after Anthony's follow shot.

And even when the Sixers seemed out of it down 17 with 9 minutes left, they promptly rattled off 10 in a row, and later got within four in the final minute.

NOTES: The division rivals play only three times this season, here again on March 11 and at Philadelphia on March 21. ... Collins said he worked out Chandler three times before the 2001 draft when he was coaching the Washington Wizards. The Wizards took Kwame Brown with the No. 1 pick, while Chandler went next to the Los Angeles Clippers, who traded his rights to Chicago for Brand. ... Oklahoma City is the only team to go 3-0 on a back-to-back-to-back.

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Follow Brian Mahoney on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/Briancmahoney

Notebook: Knicks 85, Sixers 79

By Adam Zagoria, for NBA.com
Posted Wednesday January 11, 2012 10:33PM

THE FACTS: Carmelo Anthony scored a game-high 27 points, hitting two clutch foul shots with 16.1 seconds left, as the Knicks won their fourth straight and snapped Philadelphia's six-game winning streak, 85-79, at Madison Square Garden.

Amar'e Stoudemire added 20 points and 10 rebounds and crowd favorite Josh Harrellson tallied 13 points off the bench. Harrellson was 3-for-5 from beyond the arc.

The Sixers, who were playing their third game in three nights, had won five of their first nine by 20-plus points and entered with the NBA's third-leading offense (101.6). Yet the Knicks held them to 40 percent shooting. The Knicks (6-4) moved to within a game of the first-place 76ers (7-3) in the Atlantic Division.

Philadelphia fell into a tie with Atlanta for the third best record in the Eastern Conference.

QUOTABLE: "Philly is one of the hottest teams in the NBA right now and for us to hold them to 79 points, that's a big deal for us."
-- Carmelo Anthony

THE STAT: After getting a total of three points from their bench in Monday's win over Charlotte, the Knicks got 21 from the reserves in this one. Harrellson tallied seven in the first period, when he went 3-for-5 as New York took a 28-15 lead.

QUOTABLE II: "We want him to shoot the ball. He's wide open...When he have an opportunity like that, shoot the shot with confidence and it will go in."
-- Carmelo Anthony on Josh Harrellson to MSG

THE STAT II: The 85 points is the fewest the Knicks have scored in a win since 11/24/2007, when they beat the Bulls 85-78 at MSG. The last time the Knicks scored fewer than 85 in a win was 11/14/2005 in a 73-62 win at Utah.

TURNING POINT: After the Sixers closed a 10-point halftime deficit to 58-56, Anthony scored six straight and Harrellson added a 3-pointer to extend the Knicks lead to 67-56 after three. Anthony scored 12 points in the third.

QUOTABLE III: "Carmelo is very effective in what he does...He's a competitor and he knows how to play."
-- Mike D'Antoni

HOT: The third-leading scorer in the NBA behind LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, Anthony continues to score in crunch time for the Knicks. Although he is shooting just 44 percent from the field, he has been the Knicks go-to guy during this winning streak. His two foul shots with 16.1 seconds left extended the lead to 85-79.

NOT: Knicks starting shooting Landry Fields continues to struggle. He shot 2-for-4 for four points with three rebounds, three steals, two assists and three turnovers in 35-plus minutes.

NOTABLE: Tony Battie was given a flagrant foul for whacking Tyson Chandler in the face and drawing blood during an attempted layup in the third period. Chandler exited the game but later returned with cotton plugging up his nose. He finished with just three points on 0-for-1 shooting but had 13 rebounds.

NOTABLE II: D'Antoni said center Jared Jeffries (calf) could return Saturday at Oklahoma City at "the earliest." "I think Jared's biting at the bit to play," he added. "We're trying to be cautious with him."

INSIDE THE ARENA: Former Mets and Yankees star Darryl Strawberry was in the house.

UP NEXT: For the Knicks, Thursday @ Memphis, Saturday @ Oklahoma City, Monday vs. Orlando. For the 76ers, Friday vs. Washington, Saturday @ Washington, Monday vs. Milwaukee.

• 76ers: --
• Knicks: Davis, Jeffries

• 76ers: Iguodala
• Knicks: Anthony

• Lead Changes: 4
• Times Tied: 5

• Arena: Madison Square Garden, New York, NY
• Officials: #23 Jason Phillips, #7 Kevin Fehr, #20 Leroy Richardson
• Attendance: 19763
• Duration: 2:18