Anthony's Big Finish Rallies Knicks Past Wolves
NEW YORK (AP) — Carmelo Anthony scored 19 of his 33 points in the fourth quarter, rallying the New York Knicks to a 94-91 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Sunday night.
New York trailed from the opening minutes until Anthony scored eight straight points down the stretch. He had scored just nine points on 3-of-11 shooting in the first half, but had the final 12 for the Knicks to give them a 4-2 finish on their six-game homestand.
J.R. Smith added 19 points and Tyson Chandler had 16 points and nine rebounds for the Knicks, who will fly to Los Angeles later Sunday for their Christmas Day game against the Lakers.
Nikola Pekovic had 21 points and 17 rebounds for the Timberwolves, who played without star forward Kevin Love because of an eye injury. Alexey Shved added 18 points for Minnesota.
Love was poked in the eye late in the Wolves' 99-93 victory over Oklahoma City on Thursday and didn't travel with the team to New York. They nearly pulled it out without him, leading almost the entire night before falling for the third time in four games.
Anthony made a 3-pointer with 1:53 left to get New York within one, then fought off the tough defense of Andrei Kirilenko, scoring while being fouled and converting the three-point play with 1:13 to play that made it 88-86, the Knicks' first lead since it was 5-4.
Anthony followed with two free throws for a four-point lead, and after Shved's 3-pointer cut it to one, Anthony sank two free throws with 16.5 seconds remaining. The Wolves got it to one again on J.J. Barea's drive, but Anthony again knocked down two free throws with 6.7 seconds left, and Shved was well short on a tying 3-point attempt.
Even with Love out and Ricky Rubio still on a minutes restriction in his return from major knee surgery, Minnesota led 29-22 after one and never gave up the lead in the half, even when the Knicks seemed to be putting together some momentum.
Smith threw down a dunk in Greg Stiemsma's face as one of the Knicks' three straight baskets right at the rim, but Minnesota shook off that surge and scored the final seven points of the half, taking a 55-46 lead on Luke Ridnour's 3-pointer.
The Wolves had the lead up to 11 a couple of times in the third quarter and were still ahead 73-71 heading to the fourth.
Notes: Knicks coach Mike Woodson seemed to rule Amare Stoudemire out of the road trip, saying he thought it would be best to have the forward practice against his teammates when they get back before he plays. But Marcus Camby, who has been sidelined by a sore left foot and has barely played this season, said he will be ready to play Tuesday. ... The crowd included Yankees star Derek Jeter and former Knicks guard Richie Guerin, who had an opportunity to see a highlight of his on the "Garden 366" display along the concourse, which marks an event that took place at MSG for each day of the calendar. Guerin's was Dec. 11. On that date in 1959, he had the first 50-point game in franchise history at the old Garden.
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