Knicks acquire Chandler from Mavs, waive Billups

GREENBURGH, N.Y. (AP) -- The anchor of the Dallas Mavericks' defense now centers one of the league's best frontcourts.

Tyson Chandler joined the New York Knicks on Saturday, in the belief that joining, Carmelo Anthony and Amare Stoudemire means he's not done competing for championships.

The Knicks have long needed a defensive presence, and Chandler plans to provide it.

"I know what my job is coming here," he said. "I know I came here to defend. I'm going to defend the rim, I'm going to rebound, I'm going to get extra shots. And I think if we play on both ends and play as a team, the sky is definitely the limit for this squad."

Chandler gets a four-year contract worth about $56 million after coming to the Knicks via sign-and-trade as part of a three-team deal. The Knicks sent Ronny Turiaf and cash to the Washington Wizards and reserve guard Andy Rautins to the Mavericks, and there were other picks involved.

The Knicks also waived point guard Chauncey Billups and designated him as their amnesty player so they could afford Chandler.

The 7-foot-1 Chandler helped the Mavericks win the NBA championship last season, averaging 10.1 points and 9.4 rebounds, and at first hoped he would return to Dallas. But the Mavericks wanted to keep other options open, and when the Knicks emerged as a surprising option, they quickly become Chandler's preferred one.

"The Knicks were never on my radar. I'd never seen them as being a possibility and once I got word that it could potentially happen, they became my No. 1 priority was to get here," Chandler said.

It took some work, notably using the amnesty clause to waive Billups so his $14.2 million salary wouldn't count for salary cap or luxury tax purposes. Billups was their starting point guard last season after coming with Anthony in a trade from Denver and was expected to return, with the Knicks picking up his option for this season in April when they would have owed him just $3.7 million had they waived him within five days after the season ended.

"We didn't want to get rid of Chauncey and when I talked to him today I told him, `Chauncey, it's not like we're waiving you because we don't want you. Look at it as what it is. We traded you basically for the starting center on the NBA championship team,"' interim general manager Glen Grunwald said.

Long undersized - Dwight Howard blocked more shots than they did as a team two seasons ago - the Knicks eagerly welcomed the 225-pound Chandler. His No. 6 jersey - guard Landry Fields switched to No. 2 so Chandler could have it - covered most of Madison Square Garden chairman James Dolan's body when he held it up for a photo.

Chandler later posed alongside Anthony and Stoudemire, two of league's elite scorers. Now the Knicks have a stopper, too.

"Last year was an amazing run and I think after you win a championship it's hard to go backwards," Chandler said, "and the only thing I wanted in free agency was an opportunity to continue to chase that dream and continue to win championships."

Though it was often believed the Knicks wouldn't be spenders this offseason while saving their money for free agency in 2012, Grunwald felt adding a player such as Chandler was a better strategy for building a contender.

"When we looked at things this past summer and over the fall, we said it'd be great to get someone like Tyson Chandler. Well, we got Tyson Chandler, so that's even better," he said.

"Our plans haven't changed. Tyson was the top of our list in terms of free agents this year. We took a look at everything, we felt this was the best move for us to build a team both in the short term and in the long term."

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Celtics rally for spirited victory over Knicks

NEW YORK (AP) – Kevin Garnett had 24 points and 11 rebounds, Rajon Rondo added 13 points and 12 rebounds, and the Boston Celtics scored the final 10 points for a spirited 96-86 victory over the New York Knicks on Monday night.

With blood flowing and bodies flying, the Celtics showed the Knicks they will be tough to beat next month if this was in fact a preview of a first-round playoff series.

Paul Pierce scored 21 points and Ray Allen had 15 for Boston despite a poor shooting night and a nasty cut on his head that briefly forced him from the game.

Carmelo Anthony scored 22 points for the Knicks, but neither he nor Amare Stoudemire had a field goal in the fourth quarter. Chauncey Billups had 21 and Stoudemire finished with 16.

Boston (50-19) matched its victory total from last season after coming into play tied with Chicago for the best record in the Eastern Conference, seizing control in the final minutes with its trademark tough defense the sensational all-court play of Rondo, who made the tiebreaking basket with 3:10 left.

The Knicks lost for the sixth time in seven games and fell to 7-9 since acquiring Anthony last month, and as with Miami's occasional struggles this season, has created concerns about how long it takes a team to figure things out when it has put superstars together.

"Hopefully two, three years," joked Celtics coach Doc Rivers, who has his reasons for that wish.

The longtime Atlantic Division rivals could be headed toward a meeting in the first round of the playoffs. New York entered in seventh place in the East, a half-game behind Philadelphia.

This one started to resemble a playoff scrap in the second quarter. Boston's Troy Murphy had to come out of the game with a bloody nose, and Glen Davis crashed to the court after Anthony caught him in the head with an elbow after grabbing a rebound.

Then Allen had to leave briefly in the third quarter after his head was bloodied by Jared Jeffries' elbow while going for a rebound. Allen wiped blood from his head on the court with a towel, not far from where his mother was seated next to Spike Lee in the front row of courtside seats.

The Celtics took the hits and kept coming, trimming New York's lead to 69-63 on Glen Davis' layup at the third-quarter buzzer. They were down nine after Billups' four-point play with 7:26 remaining but stormed back with 13 straight points, going ahead 86-82 on Garnett's jumper with 4:20 to go.

The Knicks tied it, and after Rondo's layup with 3:10 put Boston back ahead, Anthony was cut above the eye after colliding with Rondo trying to steal and inbounds pass. Rondo came up with it as Anthony fell to the court, then found Davis for a layup and a 90-86 edge with 2 1/2 minutes left.

Pierce knocked down a jumper for a six-point lead, and Allen put it away with a dunk to make it 94-86 with 40 seconds to go. He closed it out with two free throws.

A day after the Knicks managed nine points in the first quarter at Milwaukee, their worst opening period since scoring a franchise-low five on Nov. 21, 1956, against Fort Wayne, Stoudemire had nine by himself after 12 minutes Monday as New York built a 25-22 lead.

The Knicks scored the first seven of the second, capped by consecutive baskets by Ronny Turiaf, to open a double-digit cushion. It grew to 45-30 on Billups' 3-pointer with 3:41 remaining in the half, and the Knicks took a 51-37 advantage to the locker room.

Notes: The teams meet again in Boston on April 13 in the regular-season finale. ... Shaquille O'Neal worked out on a stationary bike before the game, though it's still unknown when he will return from a sore right leg that's sidelined him since Feb. 1. ... The Knicks started Turiaf at center, the third straight game they had a different starter at that position

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Douglas fires Knicks to 3-pt record in Grizzlies

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Toney Douglas shot a sparkling 29-point haul off the bench to help the New York Knicks set a franchise record for three-pointers in their 120-99 rout of the Memphis Grizzlies on Thursday.

The second-year guard Douglas also tied the franchise's individual three-point record, his ninth successful shot landing with 17 seconds to play and handing the Knicks (35-32) their record-setting 20th for the night.

"The dude at the scorer's table just said, 'Hit one more three.' I was like, 'Huh?' I didn't really realize it would tie the (individual) record," Douglas told reporters.

"He just said to hit one more three, but I didn't really pay any mind. I was just playing my game and taking what the defense gave me."

Douglas's shooting masterclass allowed the Knicks to hold on to sixth place in the Eastern Conference with a half-game lead over the Philadelphia 76ers.

Carmelo Anthony added 28 points while Chauncey Billups finished with 18 points and eight assists for New York in his best performance since returning from a thigh injury earlier this week. The Grizzlies (37-32) trailed for most of the match and fell 18 behind after three quarters as their hold on the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference was trimmed to just one game. Mike Conley scored 16 points and had six assists. Zach Randolph put in 14 in the loss, Memphis's third in four games.

New York shot seven three-pointers in the third quarter to keep the Grizzlies at bay.

"We tried to play zone and we tried to go a little smaller, but they're a very talented team and nothing worked for us the two times that we played them," said Memphis coach Lionel Hollins.

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