New York Knicks Still 0-For-Larry Brown

New York Knicks Still 0-For-Larry Brown


OAKLAND, Calif. - Larry Brown hightailed it out of the Oakland Arena, unable to stand the sight of another celebrating opponent. Brown's losing streak had just reached five games and, for the second time in six days, New York failed to beat a team that hasn't reached the playoffs in an NBA-worst 11 years.



Adonal Foyle scored the go-ahead basket with 48.9 seconds left, then grabbed a crucial rebound on the other end, and the Golden State Warriors survived a frantic final minute to beat Brown's winless Knicks 86-84 on Friday night.

"My hope is that we keep trying to get better," Brown said in a quick postgame press briefing. "We have to figure out ways to get better. We've been in every game and we haven't figured out how to win."

In other games, it was: Philadelphia 85, the Los Angeles Lakers 81; Detroit 84, Portland 81; Cleveland 89, Memphis 70; Washington 137, Seattle 96; San Antonio 103, Boston 82; Sacramento 101, Denver 85; Indiana 102, New Jersey 90; Utah 99, Toronto 84; and Dallas 98, Charlotte 88.

The Knicks had a chance to tie — or even take the lead with a 3 — in the waning moments, but Baron Davis stripped the ball from Jamal Crawford on New York's final possession.

Brown, in his first season with his hometown team, patted Golden State's Mike Dunleavy on the behind before making his swift exit while the Warriors jumped for joy and his players gathered at midcourt for their postgame prayer.

Crawford gave the Knicks the lead with a basket at 1:06, then Foyle answered with short turnaround hook shot.

"I missed the one before and I knew Baron would keep coming, and I didn't want him to take my head off," Foyle said. "His presence alone creates opportunities for other people."

Davis missed his first free throw with 11.6 seconds left before sinking the second.

Jason Richardson had 24 points and six assists, and Troy Murphy added 19 points and 11 rebounds, making a key 3 with 1:20 to play.

Brown will have to wait until Sunday at Sacramento to give it another try with his latest challenging project. At 0-5, the Knicks are off to their worst start since also dropping the first five games of the 1987-88 season.

Stephon Marbury had 22 points, seven rebounds and four assists, and New York led by as many as 13 in the first half thanks to 50-percent shooting and aggressive defense and rebounding. But the Knicks looked like a different team after the break — committing a shot-clock violation and giving up easy dunks in front of a sellout crowd of 19,596.

"We just had to slow down," Crawford said. "As a guard, I'll take responsibility for that."

Davis added 12 points, 12 assists and six rebounds for Golden State.

The 65-year-old Brown, with his eighth NBA team, twice began 0-5 while in charge of the Philadelphia 76ers — in 1997-98 and again in 2001-02.

Before the game, Brown said he had a tough time dealing with the other slow starts in his career.

"I wanted to kill myself," he said, "but there were no bullets."

The Warriors also beat the Knicks 83-81 last Sunday at Madison Square Garden.

76ers 85, Lakers 81

At Philadelphia, Allen Iverson outplayed Kobe Bryant in a matchup of the NBA's leading scorers, scoring 34 points and hitting the winner with 22.2 seconds left to lead the 76ers.

Bryant finished with 17 points on 7-for-27 shooting, and Chris Mihm led Los Angeles with 20 points.

Pistons 84, Trail Blazers 81

At Portland, Ore., Chauncey Billups had 21 points and 10 assists for Detroit.

The Pistons (6-0) are the only undefeated team in the NBA and are off to their best start since going 8-0 in 1988-89 en route to the first of consecutive NBA championships. Darius Miles had 23 points for Portland.

Cavaliers 89, Grizzlies 70

At Cleveland, LeBron James scored 16 points, and Zydrunas Ilgauskas had 14 points and 12 rebounds for the Cavaliers.

James needs 10 points to become the youngest player in NBA history to reach 4,000 career points. James (20 years, 316 days) will likely pass Kobe Bryant (21 years, 216 days) when the Cavaliers play at Orlando on Sunday.

Eddie Jones scored 15 points for Memphis.

Wizards 137, SuperSonics 96

At Washington, Gilbert Arenas scored 32 points in 31 minutes, Caron Butler had a season-high 24, and Antawn Jamison added 19 points and 11 rebounds for the Wizards.

It was the first time since Feb. 22, 2000, against Milwaukee that Washington scored at least 100 before the fourth quarter. The Wizards' point total also eclipsed their MCI Center record of 126 from that 2000 game. The arena opened in December 1997.

Rashard Lewis and Ray Allen each had 17 points for Seattle.

Spurs 103, Celtics 82

At Boston, Tim Duncan had 29 points and 12 rebounds to help San Antonio beat Boston for the 16th consecutive time. Paul Pierce had 20 points and 10 rebounds for Boston, which last beat the Spurs on Jan. 8, 1997.

Kings 101, Nuggets 85

At Sacramento, Calif., Peja Stojakovic scored 23 points to lead the Kings to their 18th straight victory over Denver at Arco Arena. The Nuggets last won in Sacramento on Jan. 7, 1997. Marcus Camby led Denver with 20 points and 17 rebounds.

Pacers 102, Nets 90

At Indianapolis, Ron Artest scored a season-high 30 points on 10-for-15 shooting, and Jermaine O'Neal had 20 points for Indiana. Vince Carter led New Jersey with 18.

Jazz 99, Raptors 84

At Toronto, Mehmet Okur had 29 points and 12 rebounds for Utah. Chris Bosh had 19 points and 10 rebounds for the Raptors, 0-5 for the first time in their history.

Mavericks 98, Bobcats 88

At Charlotte, N.C., Dirk Nowitzki shrugged off a back problem to score 23 points and grab 16 rebounds for Dallas. Melvin Ely led Charlotte with 14 points.