Desperate for a victory on their home court the New York Knicks played host to the young yet equally desperate 76ers. If New York had any chance of changing their misfortunes they would have to contain the dynamic backcourt of Evan Turner and the leagues early favorite in the race for the top rookie, Michael Carter-Williams. The gifted rookie leads all neophytes in scoring, assists, rebounds, steals, minutes played and has even been named Eastern Conference player of the week.
Philadelphia pounced on the Knicks jumping out to an early 19-9 lead. New York showed little resistance once again and especially had no answer for Even Turner who torched the Knicks defense for a career high 34 points to go along with 11 rebounds. Mike Woodson’s defensive philosophy was brought into question recently by the team’s best defender, Tyson Chandler and after last night’s game the sentiment may very well continue. The 76ers put up a whopping 61 first half points but would only lead by 5 at the break.
New York took their first lead of the game since the opening minutes of the third when Iman Shumpert nailed a three pointer but the slim lead would be short lived as Philly would once again exploit the porous Knicks defense. Led by JR Smith & Tim Hardaway Jr. New York would mount a 13-0 run that stretched into the final quarter but Carter-Williams and Turner would later hit back to back threes. The first of which come off of an offensive rebound by Thaddeus Young that would put the 76ers ahead for good. Philly scored 19 second chance points and destroyed the Knicks both on the glass (54-39) and in the paint (50-26.)
Carmelo Anthony had a quiet 28 points scoring 9 of those on 3 late three pointers. Melo hit 6 of his 8 three point attempts but was just 4-15 from inside the arc. He did tally a season high 7 assists in the loss. Carter-Williams finished up his first trip to the Garden with 19 points, 12 rebounds, 7 assists and 2 steals.
Final
76ers 110 Knicks 106
Notes:
This is the second losing streak of the season for NY of at least 5 games
During the current streak they have allowed an average of 109.4 points per game.
Philadelphia snapped its own losing streak of 3 games
Wilson Caicedo: PureSportsNY