Suns come up with 107-105 win over Knicks
NEW YORK -- Devin Booker poured in 26 points, including what turned out to be the game-winner, to give the Phoenix Suns a 107-105 win over the New York Knicks on Saturday night at Madison Square Garden.
Booker's backcourt mate, Eric Bledsoe, contributed 23 points and seven assists for the Suns (14-29). Center Tyson Chandler grabbed 16 rebounds, extending his streak to seven straight games with at least 15 rebounds, a team record.
Carmelo Anthony topped the Knicks (19-26) with 31 points but failed to score in the fourth quarter. Derrick Rose added 26 points.
Anthony's deep 3-point attempt to give the Knicks the win rattled around and out as time expired.
Booker's 3-pointer gave the lead back to the Suns at 107-105 with 31 seconds left and proved to decide the game.
Courtney Lee's dunk with 5:30 to play put the Knicks ahead 101-96 and Rose's reverse layup extended it to 105-102 with 2:05 left.
A Marquese Chriss (15 points) 3-pointer at the third-quarter buzzer knotted the score at 90.
Anthony's two free throws tied it at 78 with 3:18 left in the third quarter and two more from him provided the Knicks with their first lead 80-78 since early in the second quarter.
Booker's 15 points and Bledsoe's 14 helped Phoenix to a 61-55 halftime advantage.
Chandler's dunk and a technical foul on Knicks coach Jeff Hornacek led to the Suns' largest lead to that point at 54-42 with 2:54 to go in the second quarter.
New York closed to 41-40 on a layup from Rose before the Runs rallied for a 7-0 burst to move ahead 48-40 with 4:30 to go in the second quarter.
A 3-pointer from P.J. Tucker gave Phoenix its first lead of the second quarter at 37-36 with 9:01 left until the half. Two free throws from Len and a step-back jumper from Knight increased the lead to 41-36 a minute later.
Anthony delivered 11 points and Rose scored 10 to help the Knicks to a 33-30 first quarter lead.
NOTES: The NBA ruled that the Washington Wizards should've been assessed a technical foul for assistant coach Sidney Lowe standing too close to New York G Courtney Lee in the waning moments of the 113-110 Knicks loss on Thursday. Lowe was fined $5,000 and the Wizards were fined $15,000. ... The Suns rank in the NBA's top 10 in all four miscellaneous points categories, ranking second with an average of 18.6 fast-break points, fifth in points in the paint (46.5), seventh with 14.5 second-chance points and second with 18.7 points off turnovers. ... The Suns began the eighth of 14 back-to-back sets this season. They play at Toronto on Sunday. ... With 15-plus rebounds in six straight games going into Saturday, Phoenix C Tyson Chandler has tied the longest streak in Suns franchise history by matching a six-game streak by Jim Fox (Feb. 18-25, 1969) in the Suns' inaugural season.