The New York Knicks fought back in the fourth quarter to get past San Antonio 104-100 and mark their seventh straight win this season on Thursday night.
At one point the Knicks were trailing by 12 points with 7 minutes left, before putting on a late run to stun the Spurs.
"It shows me that this team is for real," The Associated Press quoted New York coach Mike Woodson as saying. "We beat a great team tonight -- a well-coached team.
"It's the first time I've ever won in San Antonio, so I feel pretty good about that. It's tough to win here."
For the Knicks, J.R. Smith scored 17 points, Jason Kidd added 14 and Tyson Chandler contributed with 13 points. All of them played an instrumental role in their team's win, but fourth quarter especially belonged to Felton, Smith and Kidd.
San Antonio's leading scorer was Tony Parker with 19 points and 12 assists. Tim Duncan added 14 points and Kawhi Leonard contributed with 16 points.
San Antonio was leading by 12 points with 7:14 minutes remaining and looked comfortably poised to win the game, with Tiago Splitter scoring 13 points in the fourth.
"He had some great minutes in there," Duncan, who added two assists and grabbed 14 rebounds, said. "He got himself rolling there for a little while and kind of got us on the board."
Then Knicks point guard Kidd shot two 3-pointers to give his team a important two point lead. Now the score was in Knicks' favor 89-85 with 5:49 remaining.
"He does it every single time," Chandler said. "I said it last game, whether it is a steal or a 3-pointer or something (else), he seems to always get it done."
Soon Smith and Kidds' consecutive 3-pointers saw the Knicks stretch their lead to 100-95 with a minute left.
Carmelo Anthony added nine points, three assists and 12 rebounds for New York.
"There was a point in the game where I huddled everybody up and said use me as a decoy. And it worked out there," Anthony said. "Pop did a great job of not even double-teaming me, but triple-teaming me; every time I touched the ball, making me see three guys."
Spurs missed seven of their last nine shots, which allowed the Knicks to take complete advantage and remain unbeaten this season.
© Copyright 2024 Sports World News, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
