- Knicks 89 Philadelphia 76ers 81: The Knicks enjoyed a team effort in defeating another struggling Eastern Conference team, the Sixers. Five players scored in the double digits, led by Jamal Crawford's 18 pounts and Zach Randolph's 16 points and 14 rebounds. Coach Isiah Thomas said, "We have good shot distribution, everyone feels part of the game, everyone gets to touch the basketball."
Late in the fourth quarter, the Knicks' 10 point lead was cut to 2, but Crawford and Randolph managed to go on a 7-1 run for the home win. The Knicks will be starting a road trip out west, with a game against the Kings on Sunday.
- Denver Nuggets 100 Nets 85: And speaking of struggling, the Nets fell to former star Kenyon Martin, who scored 20 points over the flailing Nets. Even though the Nuggets were playing without Carmelo Anthony, the Nuggets never lost the lead. In the losing effort, Jason Kidd made his 98th career triple-double - and turned the ball over three times.
This has been the Nets' eighth loss in a row. The Star-Ledger wrote, "There's not much this road trip is good for at this point, unless you want to conduct an experiment of how far a team can fall behind -- night after wretched night -- before collapsing in exhaustion as it mounts the obligatory, but futile, comeback."
Photograph of Zach Randolph driving the basket by Frank Franklin II/AP
