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Knicks on other end of blowout, rout Wolves

Jan 27, 2010 - 4:13 AM By BRIAN MAHONEY AP Basketball Writer

NEW YORK(AP) -- Humiliated on their home floor two days ago, the New York Knicks were much better Tuesday.

Seventy-seven points better, to be exact.

David Lee had 28 points and 10 rebounds, and the Knicks rebounded from a lopsided beating by administering one, routing the Minnesota Timberwolves 132-105.

Al Harrington scored 26 and Wilson Chandler had 20 despite a strained left groin for the Knicks, who were dealt the worst home loss in franchise history when Dallas beat them 128-78 on Sunday. New York was on the other end this time, scoring the first 15 points and leading by as many as 36.

The 27-point victory was the largest by a team following a 50-point loss, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. New York became the third team in NBA history to win by 20 or more the game after losing by 50.

"We definitely wanted to get that 50-point loss, that taste out of our mouth," Harrington said. "So everybody was just locked in."

Corey Brewer made 9 of 10 shots for 22 points in yet another lopsided defeat for the Timberwolves, who lost by 33 at Milwaukee on Saturday. They have surrendered 120 points 12 times this season and lost by 20 or more 11 times.

Ramon Sessions finished with 20 points and fellow reserve Sasha Pavlovic had 16.

"We knew that they just lost by 50 at home, so we knew they were going to come out with some kind of start," Sessions said. "But that start didn't end. They kept it up for the whole game."

Minnesota has lost eight straight road games since beating New Jersey on Dec. 23. The Wolves have dropped four straight and eight of nine overall.

Minnesota coach Kurt Rambis changed his starting lineup, inserting Ryan Gomes for Kevin Love, partly in hopes of avoiding the slow starts that have plagued the Timberwolves.

That sure didn't work.

The Wolves threw it away twice in the first 54 seconds on their way to a 9-0 deficit and Rambis put in four new players before the game was even three minutes old. That didn't work, as the lead grew to 15-0 before Minnesota finally scored.

"We got out to an awful start and it carried over through the entire ballgame," Rambis said. "It just wasn't there for us, all over the place."

New York was up by 28 before the end of the first quarter, turning nine Minnesota turnovers into 15 points, and took a 40-16 lead to the second.

It ballooned to 31 on Chandler's layup with 3:59 remaining before the Knicks cooled off and Brewer made a couple of 3-pointers in the final minutes to cut it to 68-45 at halftime.

Struggling Chris Duhon was scoreless on 0 for 3 shooting but had 13 assists. Backup Nate Robinson returned after missing the Dallas loss with a strained right hamstring and scored 13.

"We really didn't play well against Dallas. It's really been one of the few games in the last couple of months so once in a while it does crop up," Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni said. "It's not good but we responded in a good manner. Now we've just got to keep it going from here."

Robinson was forced to shoot a free throw with his left hand after landing on his right while making an acrobatic layup late in the third, but showed he was all right by drilling a 3-pointer less than a minute later. Harrington scored the final four points of the period to make it 96-64 entering the fourth.

"This team is capable of doing good things but we need to bring it every single time we step on the floor," Lee said.

NOTES: The 1992-93 Philadelphia 76ers won by 26 against New Jersey after falling by 56 at Sacramento, and the Warriors beat Baltimore by 20 in the 1971-72 season after losing by 63 at Los Angeles. ... The teams meet again Sunday in Minnesota. ... The Wolves had won 12 of the previous 16 meetings. ... Rookie Jonny Flynn got a nice ovation in his first time playing at Madison Square Garden since last March, when he played 67 minutes in Syracuse's epic six-overtime victory over Connecticut in the Big East tournament.