The Garden became the stage for “Louisanity’’, replacing Linsanity as boos filled the arena and a brief chant of “Fire D’Antoni’’ rose up from the rafters with one minute left – something that hadn’t been heard since late January.
Things went from bad to worse for the Knicks despite Tyson Chandler’s return to the lineup as Sixers backup point guard Louis Williams racked up 27 points in 17 minutes in the first three quarters, upstaging Jeremy Lin as the Knicks dropped their fifth straight game, 106-94, to the Sixers in a Garden matinee. They fell behind 21 points in the fourth before staging a minor rally.
Returning from a winless four-game road trip, a sloppy Lin had a lousy afternoon and the Knicks “stars’’, Carmelo Anthony and Amar’e Stoudemire were mediocre.
“It’s not fun, not something we should get used to right now,” Stoudemire said. “Winning is close to my heart. We’re not having fun and we’re going through the motions.”
Lin had 14 points, shot 5 of 18 and committed six turnovers. Lin’s backup, Baron Davis, was also ineffective, with eight points and three turnovers. The 76ers pushed a two-point halftime advantage to 16 points with a 38-24 third quarter.
“The third quarter doomed us,” Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni said. “Thirty-eight points in the third quarter is just crazy. It’s probably the spirit more. We hit s snag and we seem to whither.”
Stoudemire was invisible with nine points and Anthony, after a big start, finished with 22 points, shooting 5 of 13. Anthony and Stoudemire both sat out the final quarter.
The Knicks fell to 18-23, and lead the Cavs and Bucks by 1 ½ games for the eighth and final playoff spot. They are also 2-7 since Anthony returned from his groin injury – which essentially sucked the life out of Linsanity.
“It’s a team game and you can’t put it on Jeremy’s shoulders,” Davis said of Lin. “We win as a team and lose as a team. He competes every night and is an unselfish player.”
The stumbling Knicks face the Bulls Monday night in Chicago. If the Knicks hang on for the eighth seed, they could face the Bulls, who are currently the top seed.
Williams finished with 28 points, making 10 of 19 buckets and had the Knicks dead in the water after three quarters. Evan Turner had 24 points and 15 rebounds for the 76ers.
Williams had the highlight of the half to close out the second quarter – a buzzer-beater from the left corner over a double-team of Chandler and Iman Shumpert, the Knicks two best defenders. The off-balance bucket sent the Sixers into a 51-49 lead at intermission.
The first loud boos from the crowd came when Williams hit a 3-pointer with 2:20 left, putting Sixers up 80-67. There were more boos after Williams hit another 3-pointer, this time over Anthony, giving the Sixers a 89-73 lead with 1.4 seconds left in the third.
“They are long, are quick,” Lin said. “They are a good defensive team. They did a good job bothering us and taking us out of our primary options.”
J.R. Smith drew loud boos after his runner missed everything with 8:30 left and the club down 98-77.
The Knicks hit a dead spot in the second quarter as the Sixers rallied to take a six-point lead. Thaddeus Young, faked out Landry Fields and split him and Anthony for a monster driving dunk.
Lin then threw an awful pass that was intercepted by Young, who sprinted out of the pack and scored on a give-and go with Iguodala to put the Sixers up 49-43 with 2:02 left in the second quarter.
Anthony played another solid first quarter, making 5 of 7 buckets to finish with 12, before failing to sustain it. Anthony scored just 2 points in the second quarter, missing all three of his shots, including two layups on one possession.
Early in the third quarter, Melo heard boos after pulling up for a 3-pointer with Fields open near the bucket. The ball rimmed out.