NEW YORK — Chris Duhon made the tiebreaking 3-pointer
with 2:03 left, Danilo Gallinari followed with two more, and the New York Knicks
pulled out a 97-93 victory over the Charlotte Bobcats on Thursday night.
Wilson Chandler scored a season-high 27 points to lead
the Knicks, who hit six 3-pointers in the final quarter and 12 overall. They
also got a huge break when video review of Stephen Jackson's long jumper agreed
with the officials' ruling of a 2-pointer, instead of a 3 that would have tied
it with 1:43 to go.
David Lee had 22 points, and Gallinari finished with 17
for the Knicks, who have won three straight and 11 of 16.
Jackson scored 26 points, and reserve Flip Murray 20 for
the Bobcats, who had their three-game winning streak snapped.
New York couldn't get its offense going against the team
that allows the fewest points in the league the way it did Sunday against
Indiana, when it rang up the biggest rout in the NBA this season with a 132-89
victory.
But the Knicks shot 53 percent from the field and
rebounded from an awful start to the second half to split the four-game season
series with the Bobcats, potentially an important tiebreaker if the teams finish
with the same record.
Neither team scored for nearly 4 1/2 minutes until Lee's
basket extended New York's lead to 84-78 with 3:32 remaining. The Bobcats tied
it up on 3-pointers by Jackson and Raymond Felton, but Duhon snapped it with a 3
from straightaway with 2:03 left.
Jackson's jumper cut it to one, then Gallinari — the NBA
leader in 3-pointers made — hit back-to-back for a 93-86 lead with 44 seconds to
play.
Five straight points by Murray trimmed it to two with 13
seconds to play, but Chandler sank a pair of free throws and Charlotte couldn't
score again.
Both teams have been playing well after poor starts.
Charlotte is tied for seventh in the Eastern Conference, while New York is just
a half-game back in a tie for ninth.
Charlotte trailed by five at halftime but scored the
first seven points of the third quarter, helped by a pair of Knicks turnovers,
to go ahead 51-49 on Boris Diaw's jumper. Diaw and Jackson opened and closed a
12-4 spurt later in the period that gave the Bobcats a 10-point lead with 2:23
remaining.
Nate Robinson made a 3-pointer that cut it to 71-68
after three, then began the fourth with a dunk, followed by another 3 that put
the Knicks back into the lead in the opening minute. New York held Charlotte to
just three field goals in the first 8 1/2 minutes of the period.
Chandler scored 10 points in the first quarter, and the
Knicks shot 59 percent in taking a 28-22 lead. The Bobcats led for much of the
second before New York scored the final six points, capped by Lee's dunk, to
grab a 49-44 halftime advantage.
Notes
The Bobcats fell to 7-7 against teams previously
coached by Larry Brown, who was fired after a miserable 23-59 season in 2005-06
in New York. They have 10 more games against his former teams this season. …
Charlotte opens a six-game homestand Saturday against Memphis. … New York Mets
general manager Omar Minaya was at the game.