{"id":351956,"date":"2011-03-31T03:32:34","date_gmt":"2011-03-31T03:32:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/03\/31\/melo-again-has-39-knicks-rally-by-nets-ap\/"},"modified":"2011-03-31T03:32:34","modified_gmt":"2011-03-31T03:32:34","slug":"melo-again-has-39-knicks-rally-by-nets-ap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/31\/melo-again-has-39-knicks-rally-by-nets-ap\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Melo again has 39, Knicks rally by Nets (AP)"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

NEW YORK (AP)\u2014The Knicks knew how badly the Nets wanted to beat them, and
\nfor a half New York wasn\u2019t doing anything about it.<\/p>\n

A little more effort, and a lot of Carmelo Anthony<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> sent New Jersey home
\ndisappointed.<\/p>\n

Anthony scored 39 points for the second straight game, including the
\ntiebreaking jumper with 1:08 left, and the Knicks rallied from a 16-point
\ndeficit for a 120-116 victory on Wednesday night.<\/p>\n

Chauncey Billups<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> added 33 points, six rebounds and six assists, and Amare
\nStoudemire<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> scored 23 points for the Knicks, who have won two in a row after a
\nsix-game losing streak and trimmed their magic number for clinching a playoff
\nspot to three. They also climbed within two games of Philadelphia for sixth
\nplace in the Eastern Conference.<\/p>\n

After surrendering 68 points in the first half to a team that was blown out
\na night earlier, the Knicks came into the locker room and decided their effort,
\nas Billups said, was \u201cunacceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was a big game for us. We\u2019ve got a lot to lose, they don\u2019t. They just
\nlooked like they wanted it more than we did and we talked about that,\u201d Billups
\nsaid. \u201cWe came out immediately in the second half and just kind of turned the
\ntide, momentum kind of went our way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anthony scored only two points in the fourth quarter after a 20-point third,
\nbut it was the basket the Knicks needed in the first meeting since they beat out
\nthe Nets in the race to acquire the All-Star forward.<\/p>\n

Deron Williams<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> had 22 points, eight rebounds and eight assists in his return
\nfrom a six-game absence with an injured wrist, but was short on a potential
\ntying jumper in the final seconds and appeared hurt again after going down
\ntrying to chase down his miss.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought he was off a little bit, but man, he made some big plays for
\nus,\u201d Nets coach Avery Johnson said. \u201cBig shots, timely 3s, good assists. But
\nyou could see there at the end, maybe he just ran out of gas a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anthony Morrow<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> scored a season-high 30 points to lead the Nets. Brook Lopez<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span>
\nadded 26 points and Kris Humphries<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> finished with 15 points and 14 rebounds, but
\nNew Jersey came up short in a game it desperately wanted to win.<\/p>\n

With the Nets making their first national TV appearance since the 2007-08
\nseason in the ESPN contest and facing their closest rival, guard Sasha Vujacic<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span>
\non Tuesday said the game was \u201cprobably the biggest of the season.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI heard Vujacic already say this is the biggest game of their season so
\nfar, so it\u2019s the biggest one of our season, too, Vujacic,\u201d Anthony said after
\nthe Knicks\u2019 morning shootaround.<\/p>\n

Anthony again called it a \u201cmust win,\u201d just as he had before Monday\u2019s
\nvictory over Orlando. And he again also grabbed 10 rebounds for the Knicks, who
\ngot big contributions in the fourth quarter from Shelden Williams<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> and Anthony
\nCarter<\/a>(notes)<\/a>,<\/span> who came with Anthony and Billups in the trade from Denver.<\/p>\n

Anthony, who also scored 36 Saturday, became the third player in the NBA
\nthis season to score 35 points in three straight games, according to the Elias
\nSports Bureau.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels good, especially right now, the time that it\u2019s happening,\u201d
\nAnthony said. \u201cMust-win situations, games that we really need coming down the
\nstretch, getting into the playoffs, it\u2019s almost perfect timing for me to get
\ninto a groove like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Deron Williams followed a bucket by Lopez by converting a three-point play
\nto tie it at 107, and after a jumper by Carter, Williams knocked down another
\njumper before adding another three-point play to give the Nets a 112-109 lead
\nwith 3:28 remaining.<\/p>\n

Billups made three free throws to tie it at 114 before Anthony\u2019s only basket
\nof the fourth quarter, a short pull-up jumper, put the Knicks back ahead 116-114
\nwith 1:08 to play. Lopez missed a short jumper, and the Nets missed a chance to
\nretain possession when the ball was batted off his back out of bounds while he
\nwas trying to pick up a sneaker that had fallen off.<\/p>\n

Toney Douglas<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> hit two free throws before Deron Williams\u2019 basket made it
\n118-116. Anthony missed a jumper, but so did Williams after a timeout. Billups
\nthen closed it out with two free throws with 2 seconds remaining.<\/p>\n

Despite the teams\u2019 proximity, there has never been much of a rivalry, since
\nthey have rarely been good at the same time\u2014and neither have been lately.<\/p>\n

But they battled most of the season off the court in pursuit of Anthony. The
\nNets twice thought they were close to a deal with Denver, but Anthony never said
\nif he would have agreed to a contract extension if dealt to New Jersey. In the
\nend, the Nuggets went with the Knicks\u2019 package, but the Nets bounced back
\nquickly by acquiring Williams from Utah in a surprising deal the next day.<\/p>\n

\u201cHopefully as we get better and mature, we can form a better rivalry,\u201d
\nDeron Williams said.<\/p>\n

Notes: A USA Basketball representative was at the game to present Billups
\nwith his ring for helping the U.S. winning last summer\u2019s world championship. The
\npresentation had been scheduled for Denver on the night Billups was traded to
\nthe Knicks. \u2026 Golden State\u2019s Monta Ellis<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> and Portland\u2019s LaMarcus Aldridge<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> also
\nhad three straight games of 35 points.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Link:
\n‘Melo again has 39, Knicks rally by Nets (AP)<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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