Facing the NBA's best team and missing a key offensive cog, the Knicks blew everybody away with their most rousing win of the season. In their first game since losing Danilo Gallinari, New York dictated the pace and executed flawlessly through four quarters to beat the San Antonio Spurs 128-115. The Spurs are supposed to have upped their tempo this year, but the Knicks overwhelmed them and electrified the Madison Square Garden crowd with even faster play than they could handle.
Both teams got pretty much whatever they wanted on offense, but New York was more successful in their balanced attack, and actually managed to out-rebound the Spurs after a poor start on that front. Wilson Chandler led the way by exploiting mismatches and rushing the rim for 31 points to go with his 9 rebounds. Amar'e Stoudemire had a quiet (if that's possible) 28 points, while Raymond Felton shook out of a shooting slump for 28 of his own on 10-17 shooting.
With Gallo in a suit (and a very spiffy one at that), other Knicks had to provide offense, and provide they did. While Chandler and Felton had the most significant contributions, Landry Fields's 13 points and 9 apiece for Toney Douglas and Shawne Williams buoyed the team when most of the starters got their rest.
Greg Popovich, perhaps cutting his losses with a game against the Celtics coming up, played Tim Duncan only 29 minutes and initiated garbage time by pulling his starters with over 3 minutes left to play. Don't let that fool you, though. The Spurs played a decent enough game. They did, after all, shoot 54% from the field. New York just outplayed them, and in doing so got their most satisfying victory of the season to date.