Chicago Bulls’ Luol Deng, left, and New York Knicks’ Jason Kidd chase a loose ball during the first half of an NBA basketball game on Friday, Dec. 21, 2012, at Madison Square Garden in New York. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
NEW YORK — New York’s Carmelo Anthony and three others were thrown out of a foul-filled game, and the Chicago Bulls beat the Knicks for the second time this season, 110-106 on Friday night.
Knicks center Tyson Chandler and Bulls counterpart Joakim Noah were tossed after a fourth-quarter altercation, shortly after New York coach Mike Woodson had been ejected following his second technical. He drew a loud ovation during his walk to the locker room from Knicks fans who angrily booed the officiating for much of the second half.
Luol Deng had season highs of 29 points and 13 rebounds for the Bulls despite briefly leaving the game with an injured left shoulder. Marco Belinelli added 22 points as Chicago won for the fourth time in five games.
Anthony finished with 29 points on 10-of-25 shooting, ending his streak of four straight 30-point games. The Knicks lost for the second time in three home games after winning their first 10.
Noah finished with 15 points, 12 rebounds and six assists in completely outplaying Chandler, who took only one shot and was limited to five points and eight boards.
Kirk Hinrich had 16 points, nine rebounds and eight assists for the Bulls, who were totally shutting the Knicks down until allowing 45 mostly meaningless points in the fourth quarter after Chicago had led by 25 in the third.
The Knicks were held to season lows of 85 points and 32.1 percent shooting in an eight-point loss in Chicago on Dec. 8, when Anthony was sidelined by a cut on his finger that required stitches. Woodson said before the game he thought the Knicks got good shots that night and just missed them, expecting his team would deliver a better performance on its home floor with Anthony in the lineup.
Instead, the Knicks were never really in the game on a rare off night from Anthony, the NBA’s second-leading scorer. The score got close in the final minutes, but the outcome had long been decided.
Anthony was called for his second technical, earning an automatic ejection, with 6:45 left after he was whistled for a foul on Noah’s offensive rebound and apparently said something to referee Olandis Poole.
Once the game got away from the Knicks, so did their emotions, questioning calls that were made or arguing for ones that weren’t. Chandler and Noah were battling for a rebound when they got tangled up and began jawing, and may have even made contact with their heads before they were separated.
The fans weren’t happy, either. Spike Lee stood a couple of feet behind Zach Zarba from his courtside seat in the fourth quarter, staring a hole through the referee after one call went against the Knicks.
The Knicks had much bigger problems than the officiating.
They missed 10 of their first 11 shots as Chicago raced to a 14-2 lead. The advantage grew to 30-17 when Deng made a 3-pointer, and Belinelli followed with a free throw after Anthony was called for a technical foul after arguing a no-call on the other end. New York got it down to 30-23 when J.R. Smith made a 3-pointer at the first-quarter buzzer.
The Knicks cut it to 42-37 midway through the second quarter before their offense stalled again. Chicago scored 12 straight points, taking its biggest lead at 54-37 on a free throw by Carlos Boozer with 10.9 seconds remaining, before Anthony stopped the Knicks’ 5-minute scoreless drought with a driving layup with 3.2 seconds to go.
Smith had 26 points and 10 rebounds for the Knicks, who fell to 19-7. Their 19 wins through 25 games was bettered only twice in franchise history, when they were 23-2 in 1969-70 and 20-5 in 1972-73. They won the NBA title both times.
Deng appeared to hurt his left shoulder in the third quarter when Jason Kidd reached in on him, but returned to the game after using a heating pad on the bench.