Stoudemire too much for Sixers in Knicks' win

NEW YORK - The New York Knicks, essentially, needed the game yesterday afternoon against the 76ers at Madison Square Garden.

The Sixers wanted it.

Need trumped want as New York shot close to 60 percent and got a monstrous game from Amare Stoudemire en route to a 117-103 win, which was revenge for the Sixers taking the first game of the home-and-home series on Friday night.

Stoudemire erupted for 41 points on 17-for-21 shooting. When he wasn't continuously draining 15-to-18 footers, he was able to drive his way to the basket for layups in traffic or get to the foul line, where he made all seven free throws.

"Remember, I always talked about my formula [of limiting a player to one point for every shot taken], so, today, it was two points per shot," said coach Doug Collins, whose club dropped to 23-27. "We wanted him making those two-point jump shots [as opposed to driving to the basket] and he knocked them down.

"But it wasn't so much that. They hit us for 11 threes today and when they get double-digit threes they're going to be tough to beat."

When Stoudemire wasn't scoring, which obviously wasn't too frequently, rookie Landry Fields supplied a terrific alternative as he went for 25 points, missed just three of his 13 shots, made five three-pointers and also grabbed 10 rebounds. Point guard Raymond Felton chipped in with 13 points and 13 assists as the Knicks (26-24) won for just the fifth time in 15 games and kept a three-game lead over the Sixers for the sixth seeding in the Eastern Conference playoff hunt.

The Sixers, who suffered just their second loss in eight games, were paced by Elton Brand's 28 points. In these two games against the Knicks, the Sixers' power forward accumulated 61 points and 21 rebounds.

The Knicks, after starting the season 21-14, had been leaking oil of late and were playing less than 48 hours after having surrendered a nine-point, fourth-quarter lead in a 100-98 loss at the Wells Fargo Center.

Yesterday, New York rode a hot start by Stoudemire, who deposited 19 in the first half. He was instrumental in the Knicks building a nine-point lead early in the second quarter, at which time his team had made 18 of 28 shots from the floor.

Andre Iguodala (14 points, eight assists, one turnover), who had 18 points, 16 assists and no turnovers against the Knicks on Friday, picked up his second foul just 3 minutes into the game and had to sit the rest of the first quarter.

New York took advantage of the Sixers lacking their best defensive player and led by seven at the end of the first quarter. It got to 41-32 in the second on a Wilson Chandler 22-footer, but the Sixers later used an 8-0 run and trailed, 55-51, at the half.

New York made nine of its first 10 shots in the third, surging to its biggest lead at 79-64 with a little over 5 minutes left in the quarter. During that stretch, the Knicks got treys from Fields, Felton and Chandler, keeping the Sixers from doubling on Stoudemire.

"Those corner threes," Collins said, shaking his head. "See, they string you out. They get Amare roaming down the middle on the pick-and-roll and they squeeze your defense [in] and then you have to try to get back out to the corners. That's the tough thing about it. It's tough to guard the paint and to try to get to the three-point line. It's hard to do them both."

Early in the third, the Sixers had cut the lead to five, only to have Fields drain a triple from the right corner. Later, when the Sixers clawed to within three at 83-80 toward the end of the quarter, Shawne Williams canned another deep one to up the lead to six entering the fourth.

New York opened the final quarter with two straight threes, one by Chandler and one by Toney Douglas, to expand the lead to 12, at 92-80. They then got six consecutive points from Stoudemire a bit later and were able to hold the Sixers at bay the rest of the way.

"He hit some really tough shots," said Brand (10-for-14 shooting) of Stoudemire. "He hit jumpers from the 15, 18-foot range. But you can't give him a steady diet of anything. He's a talented player. We didn't try to lay off, he just hit those shots and then got the easy ones - the put-backs, the drives to the rim - that's what really, really hurt us.

"We would make a run, get some stops, get some steals, then Landry Fields and other guys knocked down some threes."

Lou Williams and Thaddeus Young were both productive off the bench, scoring 19 and 16, respectively. As good as the starting backcourt for the Knicks was, the Sixers tandem of Jrue Holiday and Jodie Meeks struggled, combining for just eight points.

"Our offense was good enough today," said Collins. "We shot 54 percent and went to the line 29 times, had just 13 turnovers and scored 103 points. They had some opportunistic threes. We just kept playing uphill. Amare was super and their two starting guards had 38 points and 14 assists. That was tough."

Jrue Holiday started again yesterday, something he has done in all 50 games this season. No other player on the team has accomplished that . . . Jason Kapono was deactivated for the game . . . When Danilo Gallinari missed a free throw early in the second quarter, it snapped his string of 37 straight makes . . . Actor Ben Stiller and his actress wife, Christine Taylor, sat next to tennis great John McEnroe at midcourt . . . The Knicks improved to 10-5 on Super Bowl Sundays.

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