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Sixers done in by Knicks' surges

NEW YORK - Answer: The Academy Awards. The NFL Scouting Combine. Daytona Speedway. Question: Where would the 76ers rather have been Sunday than Madison Square Garden?

The 76ers' Jeremy Pargo shoots past Knicks' J.R. Smith during the second half. (Mary Altaffer/AP)
The 76ers' Jeremy Pargo shoots past Knicks' J.R. Smith during the second half. (Mary Altaffer/AP)Read more

NEW YORK - Answer: The Academy Awards. The NFL Scouting Combine. Daytona Speedway.

Question: Where would the 76ers rather have been Sunday than Madison Square Garden?

During the first 5 minutes of the second quarter against the New York Knicks, it appeared the Sixers were at least mentally at those other events as they offered very little resistence during a 17-2 splurge by the Knicks that carried them to a 99-93 win. The result snapped New York's four-game losing streak, extended the Sixers' to five and dropped them to 10 games under .500 (22-32) for the first time this season.

And if that second-quarter bombing wasn't enough, after the Sixers had a manageable deficit at the half at 52-40, New York came out and hit a couple of three-pointers and a driving layup in just about 2 minutes to begin the third. In a little more than 6 minutes, New York had outscored the Sixers by a 25-2 margin. That ain't good, especially for a team that has been struggling as mightily as the Sixers have of late.

"Clearly it's demoralizing, especially when the guys hitting the threes are guys that you don't expect to hit threes," said Evan Turner, who posted 21 points, eight assists and six rebounds. "Sometimes you have to give them stuff, and you're already down and you're facing a deficit. It's definitely rough to follow the game plan and it kind of bites you in the butt. We kept competing."

But it was too little, too late.

The big guns for the Knicks were firing well all night as Carmelo Anthony, involved in a bit of a skirmish with Spencer Hawes in the third quarter, scored 29 points and Amare Stoudemire came off the bench for a season-high 22 as New York broke its longest losing streak of the season.

After Anthony and Hawes were intertwined under the basket in search of a rebound, Anthony took a shot at the back of the head of Hawes, who quickly turned and got nose-to-nose with Anthony before the Knicks' Tyson Chandler delivered a two-handed shove to Hawes to clear him out of the area. Anthony was given a Flagrant 1 foul, while Hawes and Chandler each received a technical.

While he says the play fired him up, Hawes appeared to think further penalty should have been delivered to Anthony.

"You watch the tape, you saw what happened," said Hawes, who had 10 points and nine rebounds. "I don't usually go off like that. Video doesn't lie. That kind of [bleep] gets me going, that's what I like. That's part of basketball, it's part of the game and it gets like that sometimes. It was a physical game where probably some stuff earlier they were letting go, and that usually precludes incidents like that."

While the 6-plus minutes of Knicks domination in the second and third quarters went a long way in deciding this one, it also was another dominant advantage by an opponent over the Sixers at the foul line. New York drained 27 of 35 foul shots while the Sixers were 17-for-20. Anthony alone was 16-for-18 from the line.

"The second quarter and to start the third, that was the game," said Sixers coach Doug Collins. "I thought the guys fought. On the road, you can't have a couple of lapses like that. And it's very difficult to keep them off the free-throw line because Carmelo is going to catch the ball and create contact on every possession. I told our coaches he would shoot 16 free throws tonight. I was wrong; he shot 18.

"And Amare, he shot 9-for-10. We knew they were going to play one-on-one with their bigs, and if you help you shrink the floor and they have three-point shooters."

The two devastating threes that came in the beginning of the third were delivered by Raymond Felton and Iman Shumpert. That grew the lead to 60-40 and put the Sixers, yet again, in the unenviable position of trying to find the energy to not only fight back but somehow overtake a Knicks team that had a huge desire to win.

"We were aggressive throughout the game," Knicks coach Mike Woodson said. "We trapped some. We get a big lead like that, we have to keep stepping [up] and they didn't quit playing. I like the way we played, and the bottom line is that we had to have this win tonight to get off the slide."

So did the Sixers.