Philadelphia, PA – Carmelo Anthony poured in a game-high 21 points and grabbed seven rebounds on Monday to help the New York Knicks complete a sweep of a home-and-home against the Philadelphia 76ers with a 110-88 victory at the Wells Fargo Center.
J.R. Smith followed with 17 points, seven boards and five assists, while Raymond Felton donated 16 points and eight assists for the Knicks, who are off to their best start since winning three in a row to begin the 1999-00 season.
Jrue Holiday paced the Sixers with 17 points and eight assists and Thaddeus Young recorded a double-double with 14 points and 10 boards for Philadelphia, which was coming off a 100-84 loss at Madison Square Garden on Sunday.
"We've run into a team the last couple games who probably is playing as well as anybody in the NBA," Sixers coach Doug Collins said of the Knicks. "They right now do not have a weakness."
The Sixers scored the first nine points of the game, but after a Dorell Wright layup pressed the margin to 14-4, Felton and Jason Kidd buried back-to-back 3- pointers around two free throws from Anthony to bring the visitors within 14-12 just past the midpoint of the first.
A Royal Ivey triple gave the Sixers a 21-20 edge late in the frame, but Anthony scored the final five points of the quarter to give the Knicks a 25-21 advantage heading into the second stanza.
Philadelphia pulled within two after five straight points from Nick Young, but Ronnie Brewer's 3-pointer sparked an 11-3 New York run to press the visitors lead to 40-30 with 6:17 left until halftime.
"We stuck with it, stuck with our game plan and it worked for us," said Anthony of the Knicks' slow start.
New York's lead reached 11 late in the second, but Young knocked down a trey with less than 10 seconds remaining to send the Sixers into the locker room trailing, 56-48.
The Sixers trimmed their deficit to single digits early in the third on a Wright layup, but New York tallied the next 12 points to take a 74-54 advantage with 6:38 left in the third.
Philadelphia pulled within 14 later in the third, but Rasheed Wallace and Pablo Prigioni hit back-to-back triples to quickly press the lead back to 20.
New York carried an 89-68 lead into the fourth before cruising to the double- digit victory in the final frame.
Game Notes
Sixers guard Jason Richardson missed the game with a sprained left ankle ... Wright finished with 14 points and nine rebounds for the Sixers ... New York went 19-for-19 from the free-throw line ... Philadelphia outrebounded New York 54-44 and outscored the Knicks 34-30 in the paint ... Sixers center Kwame Brown left the game in the third quarter and did not return.