Now we know who the Knicks’ backup point guard is.
It’s David Lee.
Lee, a 6-foot-9 All-Star center, ran the Knicks’ offense down the stretch of their 118-116 overtime victory Friday night over the Washington Wizards.
After Nick Young tied the game at 116 with a 3-pointer in the OT, Lee scored the game-winning bucket on a drive past JaVale McGee with 1.6 seconds remaining, snapping an eight-game New York losing streak.
New York (20-37) outscored Washington 6-4 in the extra period.
“Mostly David Lee was running the show and doing delays,” Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni told reporters. “The offense kind of ran through David the last five or six minutes.”
Chris Duhon, who was the starting point guard for most of the season before being replaced by Sergio Rodriguez, did not play the entire game.
Al Harrington finished with 37 points, including 5 of 8 from beyond the arc, and 7 rebounds. Lee added 25 points, 16 boards and 5 assists and Tracy McGrady scored 23 points but left with two and a half minutes remaining in the third quarter because his surgically repaired left knee stiffened up.
McGrady was supposed to get back in with three or four minutes left in the game but “he stiffened up a little bit,” D’Antoni said.
“I think I came out with like two minutes in the third,” McGrady told reporters. “We got back-to-back [against Memphis Saturday at MSG] and I sat out too long and I stiffened up. He realized that…and the team was rolling. I was even going to tell him, ‘Just let those guys play because they’re playing so well.'”
Said D’Antoni: “He’ll get there. He’ll be closing a lot of games for us.”
(Photo courtesy Daily News)
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