Knicks Defeat NBA-Best Spurs
Wilson Chandler scored 31 points while Amare Stoudemire and Raymond Felton each added 28 points to spark the New York Knicks past NBA overall leader San Antonio Spurs 128-115.
The Spurs saw their four-game win streak snapped and fell to 29-5, still three games atop Dallas in the Southwest division and leading the league.
"They were more aggressive. They were more physical. They were hungrier than we were," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "If we score 115 points, I expect to win. Our defense was pathetic. It was our worst defense of the year. They went after the game and they got it. Nothing else tricky about it."
The Knicks had the best-shooting night against the Spurs all season, hitting 55 percent from the field.
"We feel like we can match up with the best of them," Stoudemire said. "We have got some quality wins against some pretty good teams so we feel like we're right there, but we've just got to play with some consistency and keep it going all year."
French guard Tony Parker had 26 points for the Spurs while DeJuan Blair added 17, Argentine playmaker Manu Ginobili added 15 and Tim Duncan added 14 points on 5-of-14 shooting.
Popovich sees the Spurs' superb start as unsustainable rather than a strong launch for one of the best seasons in NBA history.
"We're not going to keep up this pace, that's for sure," Popovich said. "It's not going to happen."
Toney Douglas and Felton made 3-pointers and Felton and Stoudemire hit back-to-back baskets to give the Knicks a 122-111 lead with 3:27 remaining as New York surpassed a league-best 107.2 point-per-game average.
"They made us play their game instead of us making them play ours," Duncan said. "They got up and down, made shots, had it rolling in every direction. We couldn't find a way to stop them."
Source: Agence France Presse
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