|
Once they outlasted Kyrie Irving, the New York Knicks could turn their attention to the next point guard coming to Madison Square Garden.
Even Linsanity shouldn’t be as tough to deal with as the guy wearing the black mask Saturday night.
Raymond Felton scored 25 points, Tyson Chandler had 23, and the New York Knicks overcame Irving’s career-high 41 points and the absence of Carmelo Anthony to post a 103-102 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The Knicks won their fourth straight when Anderson Varejao missed the second of two free throws with 1 second left. They improved the NBA’s only unbeaten home record to 10-0, their best start since the 1991-92 team won its first 11 at Madison Square Garden.
”Guys stepped up. Raymond played great, Tyson played great, and it was just enough,” Knicks forward Steve Novak said.
Anthony, the NBA’s No. 2 scorer, missed the game after spraining his left ankle Thursday in the third quarter of a victory over the Los Angeles Lakers. But Chandler scored 21 in the second half and grabbed 10 rebounds, and Felton and Jason Kidd combined for 15 assists.
It almost wasn’t enough thanks to Irving, who had no problems wearing a black protective mask after breaking a bone in his face on a hard fall Friday night against Milwaukee…
Rookie Chris Copeland scored 11 in his first career start in place of Anthony, who had 30 points in 22 minutes before getting hurt when he landed awkwardly after a hard foul by Dwight Howard. The Knicks improved to 2-1 without him, adding this to a surprising rout in Miami on Dec. 6.
— Reported by Brian Mahoney of the Associated Press
