Knicks stay unbeaten at home

NEW YORK -- The defense that New York Knicks coach Mike Woodson and his players have prided themselves on this season was a little shaky in the second half, but the other elements that have the Knicks off to one of their best starts were in place.

Carmelo Anthony again led the offensive barrage, scoring 34 points, and several Knicks stepped up with players out because of injuries as well as the ejection of Rasheed Wallace early in the first quarter. The result was a 106-99 Knicks win over the Phoenix Suns on Sunday at Madison Square Garden.

It was all enough to hold off a late charge by the Suns (7-11), who cut what had been a 17-point deficit to four with under a minute left.

"Every game is not gonna be a runaway or blowout for us," Woodson said. "You've gotta give them credit, they played hard. They were scrapping down the stretch and made a game out of it. We were able to close it out and get the 'W.' That is what counts."

The Knicks moved to 12-4 on the season and remained unbeaten at home with a 7-0 record. But New York faced another possible injury issue when point guard Raymond Felton hurt his left hand in the second half after he got jammed up against another player. Felton said after the game he was in "a lot of pain" and it was swollen, but hoped not to miss any time. The Knicks later announced an MRI revealed Felton had a contusion and bone bruise and was day to day.

The Suns lost their third straight game and fourth in their last five on a six-game road trip, but they tested the Knicks late.

Trailing by a wide margin for most of the game, the Suns were persistent in the fourth quarter, cutting into a 17-point lead early and staging a late run to close within four with under a minute left.

Suns forward P.J. Tucker hit a layup to make it 103-97 with 55 seconds left, and the Suns pulled to within four on a layup by Shannon Brown with 29.3 seconds remaining after Knicks guard Ronnie Brewer missed two free throws.

But J.R. Smith hit two free throws with 26.1 seconds left to give the Knicks a 105-99 lead, and Phoenix got no closer after Tyson Chandler grabbed a long rebound of a Suns miss and then hit one of two free throws after he was fouled.

"I appreciate the fact that we didn't quit, we kept fighting, and a few times we had it to six or eight and had opportunities to get it workable with five or six minutes left in the game," Suns coach Alvin Gentry said. "We just couldn't get to that point. You have to give them credit. I think they are a hell of a basketball team."

Felton scored 23 points and had seven assists for the Knicks. Chandler continued to impress offensively, scoring on several putbacks to post 15 points and 13 rebounds.

Marcin Gorat led the Suns with 18 points and 10 rebounds while Brown added 17 points.

Sebastian Telfair, the former New York City high school star out of Lincoln High in Coney Island, scored seven points for the Suns to spark a 13-2 run starting the fourth quarter. The spurt, capped by a 3-pointer by Jared Dudley with 6:54 to play, trimmed the Knicks' 17-point lead to 91-85.

But the Knicks answered with a 6-2 stretch, with Anthony scoring four points during the spurt to get the lead back to 99-87, as fans serenaded the Knicks' star with "M-V-P!" chants.

"It's good to hear, it's good to hear. You can't ignore it," said Anthony, who has been widely praised for improving his all-around game. "I'm just taking it one day at a time. That is my mindset and I am going to continue to say that. I am working. We are working as a team and the results are there."

The results have come from several sources. On Sunday, Chris Copeland, a 28-year-old rookie, injected life into the Knicks with Marcus Camby out with a sore left foot and Wallace ejected late in the first.

The Suns, down 21-6 in the first quarter, closed to 24-20 at the end of the period, thanks to a 14-3 run in which Dudley scored five points and Gorat added four.

But Copeland sparked the Knicks with eight points in a little more than nine minutes. He especially caught the fans' attention with a one-handed slam to put back a missed 3-pointer by Anthony with 5:47 left in the half. The basket gave the Knicks a 39-31 lead and the Garden a little extra juice, which increased a moment later when Steve Novak drilled a three to give the Knicks an 11-point lead.

"That was an amazing feeling," said Copeland, who played five years overseas before making the Knicks' roster this season. "The fans erupted. That's something I'll never forget."

With Anthony scoring seven of his 17 first-half points, the Knicks finished the half on a 20-11 run for a 59-42 halftime lead.

NOTES: Knicks point guard Jason Kidd missed his fourth straight game with back spasms. ... Wallace was called for two technicals after first getting called for a foul and then arguing with 1:14 left in the first. Wallace was not available after the game and Woodson declined to comment, but several Knicks said they thought the first call was wrong as it should have been a continuation play with no foul on Wallace. ... Woodson and the Knicks' coaching staff visited Woodson's mentor and former Knicks coach Larry Brown, when Brown's SMU team played at Hofstra on Saturday. Woodson praised the coach Sunday, saying in his press conference that Brown taught him how to prepare. ... Telfair scored eight of his 11 points in the first half for the Suns.