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The San Antonio Spurs came into the Big Apple and made apple sauce out of the humiliated New York Knicks. |
Danny Green drained six 3 triples en route to 24 points with 10 rebounds as the surging Spurs spanked the struggling Knicks 120-89 on Sunday.
Already atop the Western Conference standings, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich gave his club a C+ or B- rating before tip-off, that the tough critic upgraded following his club’s biggest blowout of the young season.
“I thought tonight we played a good, solid B+, A- game,” Popovich said. “There were some good things out there.”
Kawhi Leonard scored 18 points, Frenchman Tony Parker added 17 while Australian Paddy Mills finished with 15 off the bench for the Spurs (6-1), who shot 54% and led by as many as 37 for their fourth straight win.
“We just played our game and we made shots,” Parker said. “When you make shots it helps, and the ball movement was great.”
Carmelo Anthony and Italy’s Andrea Bargnani scored 16 points apiece for the Knicks (2-4), who shot a frosty 37.8% from the field and were dominated on the boards, 51-33.
“It was embarrassing,” Anthony said. “It wasn’t about losing a game it was just how we lost the game. We didn’t compete today and it showed out there on the court.”
Frustrated Knicks coach Mike Woodson agreed with the superstar as he ripped his club’s miserable end-to-end effort.
“We didn’t compete tonight. That’s just unacceptable,” he said. “Right from the start, we let our offence, shots that we missed, dictate how we defended on the other end.”
San Antonio raced out to a 10-0 run behind a pair of 3-pointers by Green for a 35-17 lead after one that grew to 24 en route to a 61-45 halftime cushion.
The Spurs limited the Knicks to 3-18 shooting and outscored them 29-15 in third-quarter as the gap widened to as many as 37 before completing the rout.
Despite their worst loss of the season, Anthony isn’t ready to panic with just six games gone by. “There’s no panic button being pushed right now,” he said. “I’m not worried but we need to figure it out.”
Elsewhere, Kevin Love poured in 18 of his 25 points during a decisive 47-point first-quarter and grabbed 12 rebounds, as the visiting Timberwolves stopped a 22-game slide against the Lakers with a 113-90 victory.
“We broke some streak,” Minnesota coach Rick Adelman said. “We were on fire, everything clicked tonight.”
Kevin Martin scored 27, while Spaniard Ricky Rubio had 12 points, 14 assists and 10 rebounds for his second career triple-double as the T-Wolves posted their first win over the Lakers since March 6, 2007.