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Depleted Knicks run past Wizards

Nov 23, 2008 - 4:18 AM By Larry Fleisher PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

NEW YORK (Ticker) -- When Donnie Walsh took over as president of the New York Knicks, his two goals were to get under the salary cap and to remain competitive. He is on his way to doing both.

Quentin Richardson collected season highs of 34 points and 12 rebounds as the Knicks snapped a three-game losing streak with a 122-117 victory over the Washington Wizards on Saturday night.

Nate Robinson replaced Jamal Crawford at shooting guard and added 27 points, while Wilson Chandler contributed 23 and David Lee started at center for Zach Randolph and finished with 22 and 12 rebounds.

Stephon Marbury, who was active for just the second time this season Friday against the Milwaukee Bucks, was on the inactive list for this one.

Playing their second game since Walsh sent second-leading scorer Crawford to the Golden State Warriors and leading scorer and rebounder Randolph to the Los Angeles Clippers, the Knicks again only dressed eight players - the league minimum - and also played just seven.

"It's a tricky situation," Richardson said. "We got seven guys and we know we're going to have to play a lot of minutes and things like that. We were just trying to pick it up as best we can and play hard as we can and have different guys step up."

"That was a pretty gutsy win," Lee added. "Washington comes in needing a win. We had seven guys basically running on fumes (Saturday) from playing 40-plus minutes (Friday), and we were able to dig deep."

New York was unable to dress Al Harrington, Cuttino Mobley and Tim Thomas since physicals had not been completed. All three players, whose contracts expire before the summer of 2010, watched from the bench after holding brief press conferences before the game.

They saw Richardson post his second-most points with the Knicks. He hit six 3-pointers in the opening quarter, tying a franchise record set by John Starks, who did it against Milwaukee on January 29, 1998.

"He was terrific," New York coach Mike D'Antoni said. "He had 12 rebounds and five or six 3-pointers in the first half and, in the second half, he was great."

In a strange coincidence, the newcomers will make their debuts Tuesday against LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers. James'

free agency was the driving force behind the deal.

The current group improved to 7-6 after hitting 16-of-36 from the arc.

Being competitive was not a problem for the Wizards, but they suffered their fifth consecutive defeat. They got 29 points and 12 rebounds from Antawn Jamison but fell to 1-10 overall and 0-6 on the road.

"We were able to get back into it," Jamison said. "Once again (we didn't) play so well down the stretch, and we are just not getting the stops we needed to."

"It is hard to get a handle on it (New York's offense) if you cannot answer," Wizards coach Eddie Jordan added. "We did not answer some of their threes and some of their rolls to the basket."

Washington clawed back from a 14-point deficit and was within 91-89 through three quarters. The Wizards took a 94-93 lead on Jamison's 3-pointer early in the fourth and opened the quarter with a 7-2 run.

The Knicks eventually came back and took a 102-101 edge on a post-up move by Chandler with 6:58 remaining. On their next trip, the Knicks went to Richardson, who reached 30 with an open jumper that banked off the glass.

Although those baskets put New York back in front, it did not lead to further separation and Washington hung around. The Wizards capitalized on a technical foul on D'Antoni and were within 112-110 with 3:48 left.

After Chandler fired an airball, Washington had a chance to go ahead, but Butler missed a three from the right wing. Robinson capitalized with a running bank shot with 2:49 left.

The Knicks took a pair of five-point leads in the final two minutes and sealed their second win in as many games over Washington when Richardson hit a layup around a double-team with 1:03 remaining. That came after Lee hustled for the offensive rebound off a missed 3-pointer from Richardson.

"Once we again we had some times when we were up eight or 10 points," Lee said. "I think it would be very smart of us to put the game away then, considering how worn out we were. If we could have made it a 15-point game, I think we could have outlasted them because both teams were on a back-to-back.

"But they did a great job of battling back, and we had to pull out some theatrics at the end and we were able to do a better job in the fourth quarter of running our offense than we have in the past."

Butler's layup with nine seconds left made it a three-point game, but Duhon sank two free throws with 2.9 seconds left to end it.

"Guys were just real determined to get this win," Duhon said. "This was a big game for us."