Holiday has been averaging 15.4 points per game, while Moore has averaged 11.1 points.

The absence of the two guards leaves the Pelicans with 10 players in uniform against the 76ers.

Gentry says he hopes are ready but this weekend, when the Pelicans play back-to-back road games against the Los Angeles Clippers on Saturday night and the Phoenix Suns on Sunday night.

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New York At Philadelphia
When: 7:00 PM ET, Saturday, January 26, 2013
Where: Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
TV: 7 p.m. ET, MSG (New York), Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia
Prediction: Knicks 98, 76ers 94.

Oddsmakers currently have the Knicks listed as 5-point favorites versus the 76ers, while the game’s total is sitting at 190.

Carmelo Anthony has outscored the rest of New York’s starting unit over the past five games, so Felton’s return will provide an offensive boost. Amar’e Stoudemire and Iman Shumpert have rejoined the rotation since Felton was injured, giving the Knicks the roster they envisioned entering the season. Stoudemire continues to make a big impact off the bench, averaging 15.7 points and 6.3 rebounds in his last three games. He had a season-high nine rebounds against Boston on Thursday.

New York won its last outing, an 89-86 result against the Celtics on January 24. The Knicks covered in that game as a 1.5-point favorite, while the 175 combined points took the game UNDER the total.

Team record: 26-14 SU, 22-18 ATS
is 6-1 SU in its last 7 games when playing Philadelphia
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of last 6 games
is 5-1 SU in its last 6 games when playing on the road against Philadelphia
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of last 6 games when playing on the road against Philadelphia
When playing on Saturday are 6-4
Before playing Atlanta are 4-6
After playing Boston are 2-8
After a win are 4-6

Philadelphia point guard Jrue Holiday was named as a reserve for the Eastern Conference All-Star team on Thursday. The youngest player in franchise history to earn an All-Star nod, the 22-year-old Holiday has averaged 20.7 points and 9.4 assists in his last 13 games. He told PhillyBurbs.com that the selection signifies what every players seeks: respect. “When you’re good at your craft and somebody respects that,” Holiday said. “That’s an awesome feeling. Everyone was saying I had a really good chance.”

Philadelphia was a 110-102 loser in its last match on the road against the Bucks. They failed to cover the 6.5-point spread as underdogs, while the total score of 212 sent OVER bettors to the payout window.

Team record: 17-25 SU, 18-24 ATS
Current streak: lost 2 straight games.
The total has gone OVER in 13 of last 15 games at home
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of last 6 games when playing at home against New York
The total has gone OVER in 4 of last 5 games
The total has gone UNDER in 9 of last 12 games when playing New York
When playing on Saturday are 4-6
Before playing Memphis are 5-5
After playing Milwaukee are 4-6
After a loss are 4-6

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Russell Westbrook scored 27 points, Kevin Durant added 26 and the Thunder beat the Philadelphia 76ers 109-85 on Friday night before heading out to play 11 of their next 13 games on the road.

Oklahoma City made eight of its first 10 3-point attempts in the second half and never trailed after scoring the final five points before halftime.

The Thunder had lost 110-93 to Brooklyn on Wednesday night, but were able to avoid posting back-to-back losses at home for the first time since dropping two of the first three games of the 2010-11 season.

“We’ve got to take advantage of our fans and take advantage of home court,” Westbrook said.

Oklahoma City went 23 for 36 from the field, connecting at a sizzling 64 percent clip, while outscoring Philadelphia 63-43 in the second half.

“Our defense was really solid the whole night. The offense was a little slow, and coach told us going into the second half that we could score points so quickly, we just have to stick with our defense. That’s what we did,” Durant said.

“All we needed was to see a few shots go down.”

Serge Ibaka chipped in 15 points and 10 rebounds, and Kevin Martin had 16 points off the bench for the Thunder.

Nick Young hit five 3-pointers and led Philadelphia with 21 points. He also attempted the Sixers’ only eight free throws of the game, making six. Oklahoma City went 21 for 27.

“We’ve got to be stronger, take that ball to the basket and make them foul us,” Philly coach Doug Collins said. “For one guy to shoot a free throw tonight, I’m not saying anything that that has anything to do with the whistle. So, I don’t want that to be miscalculated at all.”

Jrue Holiday had 15 points and nine assists, Dorell Wright contributed 11 points and Thaddeus Young scored 10 for Philadelphia. Spencer Hawes pulled down 13 rebounds. The Sixers fell to 2-5 on their eight-game road trip, which started before Christmas and concludes Saturday night at San Antonio.

The schedule soon flips for both teams. Philadelphia will play 13 of 15 games at home after facing the Spurs. Oklahoma City will try to maintain one of the league’s best records while heading East, then on a pair of West Coast swings with brief stops at home in between.

“It’s a good test for us to see where we’re at. The road is always tough, no matter who you’re playing,” Durant said. “We’ve got to come out there and try to do a good job. We’re looking forward to it.”

The Thunder opened their first double-digit lead shortly after coach Scott Brooks came walking out on to the court to call timeout, screaming, “Let’s Go!” at his players after Westbrook had turned the ball over by driving into the back of teammate Kendrick Perkins shortly after halftime.

Neither player made an attempt to run to the opposite end of the court, and Jason Richardson threw down a two-handed slam off Holiday’s alley-oop.

Durant came out of the timeout and immediately drove into the lane, kicking the ball out to Thabo Sefolosha for a 3-pointer, and then drilled a 3 on the next trip down for a 56-46 advantage. Richardson answered with a 3-pointer, a layup and a runner for the Sixers before Westbrook scored six points during an 8-0 burst that pushed the lead to 69-57 for Oklahoma City with 3:50 left in the third quarter.

The Thunder salted it away with a 16-3 run late in the fourth quarter, as both teams started filtering reserves onto the court.

“They’ll hit you with a surge, and that’s what they did,” Collins said.

After a tight first half that featured 14 lead changes, Oklahoma City scored the final five points of the first half to take a 46-42 lead and stayed in front the rest of the way.

“They kept making shots,” Philadelphia’s Evan Turner said. “They tried to counter off our turnovers and they got to running. The first half, we slowed the game down and didn’t allow them to run.”

Game notes

Before the game, Collins offered his analysis of the Thunder’s offseason deal that sent Sixth Man of the Year James Harden to Houston for Martin. “I think where you’re going to see the value of James Harden is come playoff time. That’s when,” Collins said. “Because James Harden in so many instances, was their point guard and Westbrook scored and Durant. I think that’s when you’ll really see because in the playoffs, you need as many playmakers as possible. Kevin Martin can really score that ball but he plays off other guys. I think people don’t realize James Harden also last year made more free throws in the fourth quarter than anybody in the NBA.” … Country star Vince Gill watched the game from a courtside seat along the baseline. … Oklahoma City has played 20 of its first 32 games at home, going 17-3 at Chesapeake Energy Arena.

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“Cause we’re old as s—,” said the 34-year-old Bryant when asked why a lack of energy has been a problem for the Lakers all season. “What do you want? We just got to figure out how to play when we don’t have that energy. We got to change things up a little bit defensively. We got to figure out what we want to do offensively, figure out what we want to do on nights when we don’t have those legs or have that energy.”

The 76ers beat the Lakers primarily with the contributions of 22-year-old Jrue Holiday (26 points, 10 assists) and 24-year-old Evan Turner (22 points, 13 rebounds).

“You just saw an old damn team,” Bryant continued. “I don’t know how else to put it to you. We’re just slow. You saw a team over there that was just younger and just had fresher legs and just played with more energy, and we were just stuck in the mud. I think individually we all have to figure out how to get ourselves ready each and every game to have a high level of energy. That’s all that is.”

While saddled by such circumstances, Bryant’s belief that the Lakers can make the playoffs and compete for a championship remains unshaken.

“I don’t think there’s a doubt about that,” he told ESPN Radio host Colin Cowherd on Wednesday when asked if the team is built for the playoffs. “The problem is we’ve dug ourselves such a deep hole we got to do a lot of fighting just to catch up and get in that conversation. We firmly believe it’s going to happen but we have to do a lot of fighting just to get there.”

The Lakers are 9½ games behind the 25-7 Clippers in the Pacific Division and are 10th in the Western Conference, 1½ games behind the Portland Trail Blazers for the eighth and final playoff spot. The Lakers can cut into that deficit Friday night when they play the Clippers at Staples Center.

“It’s very deep, we’re very concerned but we’ve been playing well lately,” Bryant told Cowherd in explaining his level of concern for the Lakers. “The last eight games we’ve been playing pretty well but the hole we dug ourselves at the start is very deep, so every loss now cuts a little deeper than it should. So we have to keep focused on how we’ve been playing lately and just continuing to get better from that.”

Following Tuesday’s loss, Bryant, who has managed to lead the league in scoring in this, his 17th season, said every player has to learn to create energy individually.

“It’s figuring it out,” Bryant said. “That’s a big thing when you’re starting to age, is figuring out how to get yourself ready game in and game out. It’s tough. It takes a lot, a lot of commitment.”

Added Bryant: “We didn’t seem to have any energy. You watch the game, we were kind of sluggish, kind of stuck in the mud. When we have games like that, everything is an uphill battle for us. When we play fresh, when we play energized, we’re a completely, completely different team. You saw a lot of those shots tonight falling short, for whatever reason. We got to get the proper rest and get ready for Friday.”

Pau Gasol, 32, agreed with Bryant’s assessment.

“We’re not the most athletic team in the league; we know that,” Gasol said. “But we are experienced and we should create some energy for ourselves out there, and I think it starts by us talking to each other, by communicating, by letting our team really know that we’re there [on defense], and that will create some energy that we need on that end of the floor.”

Bryant sang a similar tune after the Lakers’ previous loss, to the Denver Nuggets on Dec. 26, pinning the 12-point road blowout on how his team looked slow on the court.

“It seemed like we were a little stuck in the mud,” Bryant said in Denver. “We played old, and they played with a lot of energy, a lot of youth, got up and down, and it just seemed like we were in a lower gear all night.”

Not helping things was Dwight Howard, the lone young star in the Lakers’ lineup. Howard, who turned 27 last month, finished Tuesday with just seven points on 1-for-7 shooting to go with 14 rebounds and five blocks as he appeared to labor up and down the court.

“It’s really been frustrating for him because dealing with the injury and trying to come back and expectations that we all have for him,” Bryant said of Howard. “It’s tough to deal with that when you’re not physically the same player that you were a few years ago. It’s been frustrating for him, but to his credit, he’s been battling through it and he’s been finding ways to be effective. I mean, he had five blocks tonight.”

Howard rebutted several inquiries about the state of his back injury, for which he underwent surgery in April, saying he has not suffered any setbacks in his rehabilitation and that his mobility has not been limited by it.

“I thought he got a little tired, probably,” Lakers coach Mike D’Antoni said of Howard’s game Tuesday. “Maybe frustrated; you would have to ask him.”

D’Antoni shrugged off the game as an aberration for the former three-time defensive player of the year.

“That may be one game,” D’Antoni said. “We’ll see if it continues. I don’t think it will, hopefully. We had two days, three days off. So this should not have been a game where we were tired at all. Everybody should have had their legs.”

Howard sat on a chair staring silently into his locker for several minutes after speaking to the media, before leaving the arena for the night.

Metta World Peace, 33, refused to accept the age of the Lakers’ roster as an excuse for their play, pointing out what the New York Knicks have accomplished so far this season.

“That’s no excuse, the Knicks are playing great, so that’s no excuse,” World Peace said. “You can’t use it as an excuse for us. Thank you. Thanks for trying.”

Having an older roster hasn’t stopped the Knicks from starting the season with a 21-10 record, good enough for the second-best mark in the Eastern Conference. The Knicks started the season with an average player age of 32 years and 240 days, the oldest in NBA history, according to STATS, LLC.

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