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Knicks beat Raptors, remain perfect under Woodson

Mar 21, 2012 - 4:10 AM New York, NY (Sports Network) - Amar'e Stoudemire poured in 22 points and ripped down 12 rebounds as the New York Knicks remained perfect under interim head coach Mike Woodson with a 106-87 victory over the Toronto Raptors at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday.

Jeremy Lin added a double-double with 18 points and 10 assists, while Carmelo Anthony did a little bit of everything with 17 points, eight boards, five assists and three steals to give the Knicks their fourth consecutive win with Woodson at the helm.

"We're sacrificing, we're buying in, and we're using each other," said Lin about the team's balanced offensive attack. "We moved the ball and tried to pick apart the defense. We really took whatever the defense gave us and I think we were patient as a team."

DeMar DeRozan scored 17 points to led the Raptors and Jose Calderon chipped in 11 points and nine assists in his first came back after missing the last five with a sprained right ankle. Toronto dropped to 2-3 to wrap up its five-game road trip.

The visitors got as close as eight, 84-76, early in the fourth, but Steve Novak buried a triple and Anthony added a jumper to spark a decisive 18-3 run over the next five-plus minutes that put the game out of reach.

Anthony and Tyson Chandler had four points each in the run, while Stoudemire put the exclamation point on the spurt with a three-point play that found the Knicks up, 102-79, with 3:20 to play.

"The Garden was a hot building tonight and they played it, so my hat goes off to them," said Raptors head coach Dwane Casey. "We had it in a manageable game until we just had a stretch where we had three straight turnovers and they cashed in on them."

Earlier in the game, back-to-back buckets from J.R. Smith found the Knicks up six, but Linas Kleiza sank a three-pointer as the first quarter horn sounded to bring the Raptors within 27-24 after one.

Toronto pulled within two after a Gary Forbes layup, but a 12-4 run ensued from the home team, capped by Lin's three-pointer that gave the Knicks a 49-38 lead with 2:34 left before intermission.

New York would take a 53-44 advantage into the locker room after they outrebounded the Raptors 28-16 in the first half.

The Knicks led 67-52 five minutes into the third after a 13-4 surge, but the home team went four minutes without a field goal late in the quarter as their lead was trimmed to 79-68 heading into the final frame.

Game Notes

Both teams play their next contest on Wednesday, with the Knicks visiting Philadelphia and the Raptors playing host to Chicago...Toronto went just 2- of-13 from three-point range and the Knicks finished 5-of-16 from deep.