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| GAMEDAY LINKS: | Team | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | Final |
| Box Score | Los Angeles Lakers | 27 | 22 | 31 | 27 | 107 |
| Play by Play | New York Knicks | 41 | 27 | 25 | 23 | 116 |
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Anthony scores 30, Knicks beat slumping Lakers By BRIAN MAHONEYPosted Dec 13 2012 11:18PM NEW YORK (AP) Carmelo Anthony scored 22 of his 30 points in the first quarter, and the New York Knicks held on after he departed with a sprained left ankle to beat the Los Angeles Lakers 116-107 on Thursday night in coach Mike D'Antoni's return to Madison Square Garden. Firing in 3-pointers and moving the ball to open shooters, things they often struggled to do under D'Antoni, the Knicks won for the eighth time in nine games and improved to 9-0 at home for the first time since the 1992-93 season. Meanwhile, things are starting as poorly for D'Antoni in Los Angeles as they ended in New York. The Lakers, still without Steve Nash and Pau Gasol, were never really in the game while losing their fourth straight and falling to 9-14. Raymond Felton scored 19 points, and Tyson Chandler and J.R. Smith added 18 apiece for the Knicks. Kobe Bryant had 31 points and 10 rebounds for the Lakers. Metta World Peace finished with 23 points and Dwight Howard had 20. The Lakers did cut what was a 26-point deficit to 113-107 when World Peace converted a three-point play with 1:27 remaining, but the Knicks took more than a minute off the clock while twice grabbing offensive rebounds on the next possession before Chandler made a free throw with 18 seconds to play. Anthony, playing at an MVP level after he struggled last season under D'Antoni, made his first three 3-pointers, nearly reaching his NBA-leading average of 9.7 points per first quarter before 2 1/2 minutes were even gone. Bryant tried to keep pace but the Knicks couldn't be stopped, making 17 of 23 shots (74 percent) and building a 41-27 advantage. Anthony finished two shy of the franchise record for points in a quarter, held by Willis Reed and Allan Houston. And he was easily on pace to pass Bryant's building record of 61 points, though he didn't even get halfway there after playing just 5 minutes of the second half. When it was over, D'Antoni shook hands with Mike Woodson, who replaced him on the New York bench, and a couple of Knicks players before walking off after another rocky night with the Lakers. He's often been considered an offensive genius whose teams are poor defensively, but right now the Lakers don't really look good on either end. The Knicks made 22 of their first 30 shots overall and started 8 of 10 behind the arc. Even when the Lakers tried to defend, it didn't work. Howard batted the ball away from Rasheed Wallace in the post, so Wallace simply retrieved it in the corner, buried a 3-pointer, and the lead ballooned to 58-32. It was 68-49 at the break, but the Knicks lost some of their flow when Anthony went to the locker room with 6:41 left in the third quarter and a 17-point lead. He had landed awkwardly after being fouled by Howard on a drive to the basket, and though he was able to stay in to shoot the free throws, Anthony was removed at the next whistle. D'Antoni was loudly booed during pregame introductions, Knicks fans who appreciated the rugged defensive teams of the 1990s never truly embracing his offense-first style. D'Antoni said he enjoyed his time in New York and said earlier Thursday the Knicks, who lead the NBA in 3-pointers per game and fewest turnovers, were playing the way he'd like his team to play. Sure enough, they made 12 3-pointers, right at their average, and turned it over just six times. D'Antoni couldn't get the Knicks' offense going last season and tensions between he and Anthony seemed strained, though both denied it, when he resigned in March with the team threatening to fall out of the playoff race. The Knicks went 18-6 down the stretch under Woodson, who said he has kept aspects of D'Antoni's system while adding in some wrinkles of his own. The result is a team that has shot to the top of the Eastern Conference with a 17-5 record. NOTES: The Knicks opened a six-game homestand. They don't play on the road again until they visit the Lakers on Christmas. ... New York has won the last two meetings after dropping nine in a row. ... D'Antoni said he spent his off day in town visiting with his wife and son, who remained in New York after he took the Lakers job last month. Copyright 2012 by STATS LLC and Associated Press. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of STATS LLC and Associated Press is strictly prohibited |
 
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POSTGAME QUOTES On tonight’s game: On the team: On Steve Nash:  Dwight Howard: On tonight’s game: On the season: On Steve Nash: On the Knicks: On his health: On Pau Gasol:  Steve Nash: On his leg: More on his leg: On his return: More on his return:  Mike Woodson: On tonight’s game: More on tonight’s game: On Carmelo Anthony’s injury: On Carmelo Anthony:  Carmelo Anthony: On his fall: On his ankle: More on his fall: On tonight’s game: More on tonight’s game: On the team: On playing Saturday: More on playing Saturday:  Tyson Chandler: On Carmelo’s injury: On first half:  Raymond Felton: On Tyson Chandler: On attacking the basket:  Jason Kidd: On fourth quarter adjustments: On hitting his head: |
Kobe Bryant:
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LAKERS-KNICKS PREVIEW By ALAN FERGUSONPosted Dec 12 2012 6:39PMOn the verge of their longest losing streak since late in the 2010-11 season, the Los Angeles Lakers are looking for any bit of positivity. They might have some considerable trouble finding that Thursday night when they visit Eastern Conference-leading New York in coach Mike D'Antoni's first game against the Knicks since his resignation in March. When it hired D'Antoni on Nov. 11, Los Angeles was trying to come back from its worst start since 1993-94 and make a quick return to prominence. Instead, the Lakers (9-13) have continued to flounder, and a 100-94 defeat at lowly Cleveland on Tuesday was a season high-tying third in a row. Los Angeles hasn't dropped four straight since a five-game skid April 3-10, 2011. "We've got to stay focused and stay strong," center Dwight Howard said. "We can't let this break who we are as a team. "We're not playing the greatest basketball. But there will come a day when we'll have the gun. Right now, we're rabbits. Once we get the gun, it's not going to be fun for everybody else." Kobe Bryant had a season-best 42 points but only two other players scored in double figures for the injury-plagued Lakers. Los Angeles also allowed an opponent to score at least 100 points for the sixth time in seven games. "We play at a very slow pace and we struggle. Maybe it shifts over to defense. Maybe we're slow. Maybe we can't do it," D'Antoni said. "It's my job to fix it - and that's what I'll do." Before dropping to 4-8 under D'Antoni, the Lakers took some heat from Hall of Famer Magic Johnson, who questioned whether the coach's up-tempo style fit the team's personnel. Johnson added that he would like to see Pau Gasol get more involved in the offense when he returns from injury. Gasol has missed the past five games with tendinitis in his knees and remains day-to-day. Point guard Steve Nash, who won back-to-back MVPs while playing under D'Antoni in Phoenix, hasn't played since fracturing his left leg Oct. 31. If the Lakers can't get Gasol back on the court, it doesn't bode well for them against the Knicks (16-5), who have won seven of eight and are the NBA's last unbeaten home team at 8-0. New York is among the league leaders with 102.6 points per game and has allowed an opponent to reach the century mark once in the last nine contests. The Knicks held Brooklyn to 18 points in the fourth quarter Tuesday while rallying for a 100-97 victory. Jason Kidd hit a tiebreaking 3-pointer with 24 seconds left and Carmelo Anthony had a season-high 45 points, giving him 79 in two games since returning from a lacerated finger. "He's had some pretty good games under my tutelage but I just think tonight he wanted it so badly, man," coach Mike Woodson said. "He made shot after shot." Anthony was reportedly one of the main critics during D'Antoni's tenure in New York, which began in 2008-09 and ended with the Knicks accumulating a 121-167 record and one postseason appearance, a first-round sweep at the hands of Boston in 2011. The Knicks were 18-24 when he departed last season but went 18-6 after Woodson took over to reach the playoffs. One of New York's wins under D'Antoni last season was a 92-85 home victory over the Lakers that snapped a nine-game skid in the series. Anthony missed that game because of a strained right groin, and the Knicks overcame his absence by holding the Lakers to a season-low 37.5 percent shooting. Bryant's average of 34.6 points at Madison Square Garden since the beginning of the 1999-00 season is his best on any opponent's floor. Howard, meanwhile, averaged just 9.3 points in three meetings against the Knicks while with Orlando last season. Copyright 2012 by STATS LLC and Associated Press. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of STATS LLC and Associated Press is strictly prohibited. |
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