Balkman guides Knicks past Wizards

Stephon Marbury had 16 points and Eddy Curry had 13 points and six boards for the Knicks, who ended a three-game slide and won for only the second time in eight games. David Lee had a double-double with 10 points and a season-high 15 boards for New York, which held Washington to just 13 fourth-quarter points.

Gilbert Arenas had 22 points, going 12-of-12 from the free throw line, for Washington, which has lost consecutive games for the first time this season. Antawn Jamison had 20 points and nine boards and Caron Butler had 18 points for the Wizards, who got only 23 points from the rest of the team.

After a Deshawn Stevenson free throw drew the Wizards within 60-56 just under 5 1/2 minutes into the third quarter, the Knicks went on an 8-2 run to open up a 10-point lead. A Lee basket with just under four minutes left in the quarter ended the surge and allowed New York to go into the fourth with a 77-69 advantage.

Washington drew within 78-71 early in the fourth after a pair of Arenas free throws, but that was as close as the Wizards would get. Lee and Balkman combined for the next six points to extend the lead back to double digits and the Knicks cruised from there.

The Wizards lost despite hitting 36-of-40 free throws. New York went only 19- of-28 from the line. The Knicks did hit 44.6 percent of their shots from the field, going 9-of-25 from three-point range. The Wizards missed all 15 of their three-point attempts.

"Everyone had the mind set of coming in and playing 48 minutes," said Marbury. "We wanted to stop them from running and we did that. We played good defense."

New York led 27-25 after one quarter and 50-43 at halftime.

"They crashed the boards,’ said Arenas. "Guys like Balkman and Lee, that’s how they were successful. They attacked the boards and got a lot of second chance points.

Game Notes

Nate Robinson had 11 points off the bench for New York...Steve Francis had only four points for the Knicks...Balkman was the Knicks’ first-round pick in the most recent draft...New York improved to 1-3 at home this season...Washington fell to 0-3 on the road...Washington has lost seven of its last eight in New York.