points, David Lee had 17 points and 10 rebounds, and the New York
Knicks beat the injury-depleted Portland Trail Blazers 93-84 on Monday
night for their season-high third straight victory.
Danilo Gallinari and Wilson Chandler
each added 14 points as the Knicks won for the fourth time in five
games, continuing to play better basketball after coach Mike D’Antoni
shortened his rotation and has found a group willing to defend.
Brandon Roy scored 27 points and
LaMarcus Aldridge had 19 points and 13 rebounds for the Trail Blazers,
whose injuries start at the center spot and extend right through the
coach’s seat.
Greg Oden had season-ending surgery
Sunday after breaking his left kneecap in the Blazers’ victory over
Houston. Rudy Fernandez (sciatic pain) was also out, joining Travis
Outlaw (broken left foot) and Nicolas Batum (right shoulder surgery).
And coach Nate McMillan wasn’t around
either after having surgery Monday in Vancouver, Wash., the same city
where Oden underwent his procedure. McMillan ruptured his right
Achilles’ tendon during practice Friday after taking the floor with a
team missing so many bodies.
Dean Demopoulos will run the team on
Portland’s four-game road trip, and he doesn’t have much help on the
bench. He had only nine players and surely could’ve used the defense of
Oden, who is second in league in blocked shots and fourth in field goal
percentage.
Anybody would have helped in the
third quarter, when the Knicks closed the period with an 18-4 spurt to
open a 78-55 bulge on Hughes’ 3-pointer with 4.2 seconds left. New York
outscored Portland 60-37 across the middle two quarters to snap a
five-game losing streak in the series.
Portland tried to muster a rally,
pulling within nine midway through the fourth after consecutive baskets
by Jerryd Bayless. Gallinari ended the run with a 3-pointer, then fed
Hughes for a 3-point play that quickly made it 86-71 with 5:40
remaining.
The Blazers are accustomed to playing
without the injury-prone Oden, but the No. 1 pick in the 2007 draft has
been playing his best basketball this season. And perhaps the shock of
seeing him go down again Saturday, coupled with the absence of
McMillan, was too much to ask.
New York shot 37 percent but held
Portland to 30 percent in the first quarter, which ended in an 18-all
tie. The shooting was better in the second, but the Knicks still made
plenty of key plays defensively to open a comfortable lead.
Jared Jeffries twice stepped in to
draw charges. Chris Duhon dived on the floor to come up with a loose
ball, starting a play that ended with Gallinari finding Al Harrington
alone under the basket for a dunk.
The Knicks shot 61 percent and led by as much as 12 before taking a 49-38 advantage into halftime.
Notes
The Blazers said McMillan is
expected to return when they host Sacramento on Dec. 15. … The Knicks
had been 0-5 in the second game when playing on back-to-back days. They
beat New Jersey 106-97 on Sunday. … Knicks center Eddy Curry was back
in uniform after he was inactive for the last seven games because of a
sore left knee. He wasn’t expected to suit up again until the Knicks
visit New Orleans on Friday so he could get some practice time first.