At Amar'e's Homecoming, Raymond is King. Knicks defeat Suns 121-96

The Knicks 2010-2011 season began with the acquisition of Amar'e Stoudermire and Raymond Felton, along with questions and doubts that Amar'e would as successful without his old partner Steve Nash setting up and handing him the ball on his way to the rim. However, we are now about halfway through the season and it's Nash that is singing to the tune 'I miss you, Amar'e' down in Phoenix.

The Knicks took on the Phoenix Suns last night (or as I like to call them, "Knicks Lite") where Amar'e faced his former team for the first time this season. Amar'e, who scored 23 points on 9-18 shooting and grabbed 9 boards, came to the Knicks after the Sun's expressed interest in Stoudermire, but didn't think he was worth the $100 million max. Who ever made that decision in the Suns front office has probably been kicking himself all season.

But the star of the game may actually have to go to Raymond Felton, who scored a triple-double for the first time in his career. Felton shot 8-20 from the field, while dropping 11 dimes and grabbing an impressive 10 rebounds. Felton flat-out, out played Nash who scored 14 and dished out 9 assist in 27 minutes. Wilson Chandler and Landry Fields also had solid games, with Wilson scoring 16 point and grabbing 6 rebounds, and Fields added a double-double scoring 14 points and 10 rebounds.

The game became out of reach for the Suns in the 4th quarter, so both teams emptied theirs benches and we got to see a couple of players that were in 'Mike D'Antoni's Dungeon' see some daylight, like Anthony Randolph, Roger Mason, Andy Rautins, and Timofey Mozgov. For the Suns, Vince Carter was the leading scorer with 19 and Goran Dragic scored 17 points.

QUOTABLE: "I had one objective and that was to dominate from the start. I got it going early. Then in the second half, they went to a zone and my teammates got it going. The great thing about our team is that we're so versatile that no matter how teams play us we can adjust." 
-- Amar'e Stoudemire.


QUOTABLE II: "We can't quit, and that's not in our blood. I don't think anyone here just wants to give up or get negative on us. There have been worse teams in worse situations, so we're not going to give up." 
-- Suns center Channing Frye.


NOTABLE: Knicks center Timofey Mozgov came in for mop-up duty but only lasted four minutes before he was ejected after getting in a scrum with Suns center Robin Lopez -- who went from starter to mop-up man himself and was in a sour mood on Friday.

New York

Starters	Pos	Min	FG	3Pt	FT	+/-	Off	Reb	Ast	TO	Stl	BS	BA	PF	Pts
R. Felton(notes)	G	37:35	8-20	5-10	2-2	+27	2	10	11	5	1	0	0	1	23
T. Douglas(notes)	G	22:16	4-8	3-5	0-0	+3	1	1	3	2	1	0	0	5	11
A. Stoudemire(notes)	C	31:22	9-18	0-0	5-6	+22	3	9	2	3	0	2	1	3	23
W. Chandler(notes)	F	36:02	7-15	1-4	1-2	+24	2	6	0	0	0	0	1	2	16
L. Fields(notes)	F	32:42	6-6	2-2	0-0	+29	0	10	2	3	1	0	0	2	14

Bench	Min	FG	3Pt	FT	+/-	Off	Reb	Ast	TO	Stl	BS	BA	PF	Pts
Totals		46-92	17-33	12-18		14	59	24	18	6	4	3	22	121
Percentages		.500	.515	.667		Team Rebounds: 6
S. Williams(notes)	25:54	5-12	4-9	1-1	+13	1	7	2	0	3	2	0	2	15
B. Walker(notes)	20:44	3-4	2-2	0-1	+18	0	9	2	3	0	0	1	2	8
R. Turiaf(notes)	12:34	1-2	0-0	3-4	+11	2	3	1	1	0	0	0	4	5
R. Mason(notes)	6:43	0-1	0-1	0-0	-6	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
A. Randolph(notes)	4:58	1-3	0-0	0-2	-7	1	2	0	1	0	0	0	0	2
A. Rautins(notes)	4:58	1-1	0-0	0-0	-7	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	2
T. Mozgov(notes)	4:12	1-2	0-0	0-0	-2	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	2
K. Azubuike(notes)	DNP - Inactive
E. Curry(notes)	DNP - Inactive
D. Gallinari(notes)	DNP - Inactive

PhoenixPhoenix

Starters	Pos	Min	FG	3Pt	FT	+/-	Off	Reb	Ast	TO	Stl	BS	BA	PF	Pts
V. Carter(notes)	G	33:12	7-13	1-3	4-4	-27	0	4	0	1	1	0	0	3	19
S. Nash(notes)	G	27:51	6-12	1-3	1-1	-12	0	2	9	3	0	0	1	0	14
J. Childress(notes)	C	11:36	1-1	0-0	1-2	0	0	5	0	1	0	0	0	0	3
G. Hill(notes)	F	29:35	3-10	0-1	4-6	-31	0	3	2	2	2	1	0	2	10
M. Pietrus(notes)	F	28:56	1-5	1-5	0-0	-3	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	3	3

Bench	Min	FG	3Pt	FT	+/-	Off	Reb	Ast	TO	Stl	BS	BA	PF	Pts
Totals		35-82	6-24	20-28		4	34	15	12	8	3	4	18	96
Percentages		.427	.250	.714		Team Rebounds: 8
J. Dudley(notes)	34:03	4-10	1-5	2-4	-13	0	6	1	1	1	0	1	0	11
C. Frye(notes)	21:12	4-11	0-3	0-0	-14	2	6	0	0	1	1	1	2	8
G. Dragic(notes)	20:09	5-12	2-4	5-5	-13	0	0	2	1	3	0	0	3	17
H. Warrick(notes)	13:55	3-4	0-0	3-6	-12	1	2	0	0	0	0	1	1	9
M. Gortat(notes)	12:48	0-3	0-0	0-0	-6	1	5	0	2	0	1	0	3	0
R. Lopez(notes)	6:43	1-1	0-0	0-0	+6	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	2
G. Lawal(notes)	DNP - Inactive
G. Siler(notes)	DNP - Inactive

+/-:

Team net points while player in game

TO:

Turnovers

PF:

Personal Fouls

BS:

Blocked Shots

BA:

Blocks Against

Game Info

Technical Fouls:

New York - T. Mozgov 1

Arena:

US Airways Center, Phoenix, AZ

Attendance:

17,621

Officials:

Ken Mauer, Marat Kogut, Rodney Mott