Knicks quash Heat

MIAMI—A sharpshooting New York Knicks team connected on 18 3-pointers to dominate the suddenly struggling Miami Heat for the second time this season, winning 112-92 on Thursday.

Raymond Felton scored a season-high 27 points as the Knicks easily beat the reigning NBA champions despite the absence of the injured Carmelo Anthony.

In Thursday’s other game the Dallas Mavericks hung on to edge the Phoenix Suns, 97-94.

New York’s Steve Novak scored 18 points as the Knicks won their fifth straight and moved 1½ games clear of Miami for the best record in the Eastern Conference. The Knicks made eight 3-pointers in the third quarter alone, the most by any NBA team in a quarter this season.

Anthony sat out with a stitched middle finger on his left hand which he cut the previous night.

“You’ve got a key guy that goes down and the other guys get an opportunity to play and step up and make plays,” Knicks coach Mike Woodson said. “It was a total team effort from everybody across the board. Our defense was solid and then we kind of broke it open at the end.”

Miami’s LeBron James nearly picked up his second straight triple-double—31 points, 10 rebounds, nine assists—but even that was not enough for the Heat who put in another disappointing performance after losing to lowly Washington in its previous game.
Miami had won all eight of its home games coming in, and Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said the team can only going to get back on the winning path by quickly addressing its shortcomings.

“We’re going to own this,” Spoelstra said. “We’re not going to brush this off. And we’re going to fix it.”

James took that to heart and worked out for more than an hour after the game.

“I’ve got to be better. I’ve got to be better,” James said. “It’s that simple. So I’m here, and I’m the last one to leave.”  AP