New York Knicks Defeat Charlotte Bobcats 91-87

It wasn't pretty. In fact, it almost turned out to be worse than the last time these two teams played each other. In the end, it was the New York Knicks making 30 of 40 free throws in escaping with a 91-87 over the Charlotte Bobcats in their second meeting in less than a week at Madison Square Garden.

When they met last Wednesday, the Bobcats totally embarrassed the Knicks. This was after the Toronto Raptors did the exact same thing 2 nights earlier. Blame the early schedule, lack of a regular training camp and missing players due to injury. Still, New York had no excuse losing to two teams that didn't even qualify for the playoffs last year. The Knicks did regroup the last two games on the road defeating Washington and Detroit on the road to get their record back to .500 sitting in second place behind Philadelphia. Now it was time to get revenge against a Bobcat team that hadn't won a game since they left the World's Most Famous Arena.

Said head coach Mike D' Antoni before they faced Charlotte "the Bobcats played extremely well last game and we didn't. We didn't bring the defense like I hoped we would have."

With rookie Iman Shumpert (16 points, 4 assist) starting his second game in a row, the Knicks looked to get off to a strong start. Before you could say "Ground Hog Day" the Bobcats raced out to a 10-0 lead. With the "boo birds" out early, the Knicks regained their composure and with the help of 3 alley-oops, outscored Charlotte 24-11to take a 24-21 1st quarter lead.

"They responded well," said D' Antoni. "

The defense failed to play in the first game and at the start of Monday night's game quickly changed as New York contested more shots, limited second-chance opportunities and they did not give Charlotte carte blanche from 3 point land. Amar'e Stoudamire, (25 points, 11-13 free throws) who was torched by Boris Diaw for 27 points last Wednesday, scored 15 first-half points. Diaw did score 12 but no other starter hit the double figure mark. Shumpert contributed 12 points and 3 assists giving the Knicks a 5-point (50-45) halftime lead.

Tyson Chandler (20 points, 13 rebounds) led all scorers with 10 third-quarter points as New York took an 11-point lead (72-61) with less than a minute to play. Charlotte would not go away, as they battled back after falling behind by 8 points (79-71), the largest deficit of the quarter after watching Stoudemire hit a running hook shot. With 4:49 left, D.J. Augustin brought them within 1 (80-79) after nailing a jumper. He wasn't done, tying the game at 82 sinking a long 3-pointer, as the shot clock was expiring. D' Antoni then decided to put the ball in Carmelo Anthony's hands. It paid off as he scores 8 of the last 10 points leading to the 4 point victory. Melo was on shaky ground in the waning minutes as he played with 5 fouls down the stretch.

"I just didn't feel like anybody else could produce any points," said D' Antoni.

It wasn't pretty but the New York Knicks came away with a victory against the same team they lost to last week giving up 118 points.

"We seem not to shoot the ball well against them," said Anthony. "Tonight we won the game on the defensive end."