Knicks Win Fifth Straight; Defeat Suns 98-96

The New York Knicks won their fifth straight game tonight as they defeated the Phoenix Suns 98-96. It wasn’t easy tonight, but the Knicks would win in overtime.

The Knicks for the most part controlled this game, but a surge by them starting in the third quarter made this a very close game.

Carmelo Anthony was strong for the Knicks tonight. After winning the Player of the Week for the eastern conference earlier in the day, Anthony would have another brilliant performance tonight. Scoring 29 points and grabbing 16 rebounds Anthony was huge in this game. He was dominate early on, but made some very big shots down the stretch to help get the Knicks in position to win.

Raymond Felton had a strong scoring game as he scored 19 points. Felton really looked to take it to the basket and that would get him easier shots. Tonight he struggled on defense, but overall made one huge basket to put the Knicks up.

The Suns really played a hard game. They fought back after trailing by 14 points. They really benefited from a great performance by Goran Dragic. He was unstoppable as he was able to use his quickness and speed to get inside. He scored 28 points including four three-pointers. In the end he wasn’t able to make big shots for his team because of the dominate defense the Knicks had late in the overtime.

Leandro Barbosa, who was signed last week by the Suns, put forth a dominate effort off the bench. Barbosa scored 21 points in 30 minutes. He was great in getting inside and that really played into his hand as he made some great shots. He played a great game and drew a very controversial foul late in the fourth quarter.

This was a very big win by New York, who almost lost the game due to their lack of offensive. But in the end they played very strong defensively. They had very poor defense midway through this game, but they came up strong late.

The Knicks will play the Bobcats tomorrow night trying to keep up their strong play. The Suns will play host to the Lakers on Wednesday night looking to get back on the winning road.

Photo Credit: Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images