Left short-handed by a rash of frontcourt injuries, the Knicks are suddenly counting on Martin more than they ever imagined. Best of all, he’s coming up big.

Carmelo Anthony scored 37 points, Martin had 19 points and 11 rebounds, and the Knicks clinched a playoff berth with a 99-94 victory over the Toronto Raptors on Friday night.

“He means a lot to this team right now,” Anthony said of Martin, his one-time Denver teammate. “We need him coming down the stretch.”

Making his fifth straight start, Martin connected on his first nine field goal attempts, not missing until 1:40 remained in the fourth quarter.

“He stepped up big time,” New York coach Mike Woodson said. “He scored for us, he rebounded, had a few blocks. He did a little bit of everything.”

Veteran guard Jason Kidd, who once played with Martin in New Jersey, said the 35-year-old has been an invaluable addition following injuries to big men Amar’e Stoudemire (right knee), Tyson Chandler (neck), Kurt Thomas (right foot) and Rasheed Wallace (left foot).

“He’s a true professional,” Kidd said. “If we didn’t have him we would be in trouble right now. He’s playing big on both ends.”

Out of basketball before the Knicks came calling, Martin said he considers himself “blessed” to be back on the court and playing for a contender.

“I just tried to stay ready,” he said. “An opportunity came for me to come out and play. It’s unfortunate that it’s because of injury, but I’ll take it.”

J.R. Smith scored 14 points as the Knicks earned their 41st win. That guaranteed they’ll reach the playoffs for the third straight season, something they hadn’t done since a 14-year streak of postseason appearances from 1988 to 2001.

With 15 games left and playoff seeding still undecided, Woodson doesn’t want his team easing up.

“We can’t have any slippage, no matter who we play, because Brooklyn is not going anywhere and Boston is not going anywhere,” Woodson said.

The league’s second-leading scorer, Anthony has 57 total points in his past two games after missing six of the previous eight with a sore right knee. His 43 minutes were about 10 more than Woodson had hoped he’d play, but Anthony wasn’t complaining.

“I’ll take on that challenge, I love that challenge, I want that challenge,” he said. “I wanted to see what I could do, especially being out and not playing the way I know how to play.”

The defeat was a double blow for Toronto, which lost for the 11th time in 15 games and saw forward Rudy Gay leave in the second with a sore back. Gay did not return, and his status for Saturday night’s rematch in New York was not known.

Alan Anderson scored a career-high 35 points, DeMar DeRozan had 18 and Jonas Valanciunas 10 as the Raptors lost their third straight. Kyle Lowry led Toronto with 10 assists.

Down by 14 points midway through the third, the Raptors rallied to make a game of it in the fourth. A three-point play by DeRozan cut it to 84-82 with 6:17 left, but Anthony answered with a three-point play of his own, keying a 10-2 run that put the Knicks up 94-84 with 4:00 remaining.

A putback dunk by Terrence Ross cut it to 97-92 with 39 seconds left and, after Smith missed a pair of free throws, Anderson made two from the line, making it 97-94.

Anthony was fouled and made the first but missed the second, giving the Knicks a four-point edge. Jason Kidd grabbed the rebound when Ross’s 3-point heave came up short, and capped it by making one of two from the line.

Chandler (neck) did not travel with the team, remaining in New York for treatment. Woodson said he doesn’t know when Chandler, who last played March 13, will be cleared to return. The Knicks had earlier said they expected Chandler to miss about a week.

Raymond Felton’s banked 3 gave the Knicks a 25-15 lead with two minutes left in the first but Anderson scored five straight points as the Raptors cut it to 25-22 after one.

Gay headed to the locker room with a sore back at 7:04 of the second and the Knicks pulled away. Anthony and Kidd each scored six as New York outscored Toronto 25-15 to open a 50-37 lead at the half. The Raptors made five of 20 field goal attempts in the quarter.

“We just had a lot of open misses,” Anderson said. “We weren’t swinging the ball from side to side like we did in the previous two games against them.”

Anderson matched a Raptors record with 20 points in the third and Toronto made five of nine from 3-point range, but a turnaround, buzzer-beating 3 by Anthony gave the Knicks a 77-71 lead heading into the fourth.

Game notes

Stoudemire, Thomas and Wallace also skipped the trip to Toronto. … Iman Shumpert started for the New York after sitting out the second half of Wednesday’s win over Orlando with a sore left knee. … Mike James was the last Toronto player to score 20 in a quarter, doing it in the fourth against Detroit on Apr. 14, 2006. … Woodson expressed his sadness at the death of former Knicks captain Ray Williams, who died Friday at the age of 58. “It’s a major loss,” Woodson said. “He’s a part of our Knicks family.” … Actor Isiah Whitlock Jr. attended the game.

The post Carmelo Anthony scores 37 as Knicks clinch playoff berth appeared first on IdealCapper.

Clippers (26-18, 11-10 away) vs Pacers (25-18, 13-6 home)
Coverage: FOX WEST
When: 7:00 PM ET, March 20, 2012
Where: Bankers Life Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, IN

After dropping three of four to open their six-game homestand, the Clippers (26-18) finished that grueling eight-day stretch with four-point victories over Houston and Detroit. While Los Angeles averaged just 91.0 points on 40.5 percent shooting in those wins, Paul made half of his 30 shots and totaled 42 points.

He scored 12 of his 23 in the final 2:42 of Saturday’s 95-91 win over the Rockets, then had nine of his 19 in overtime Sunday in an 87-83 victory over the Pistons.

The All-Star point guard is among the NBA’s best with an average of 6.9 points in the fourth quarter.

“You’d be hard-pressed to find a better guy with the ball late in the game than Chris in this league,” said coach Vinny Del Negro, whose team next gets back-to-back days off April 20-21.

While the Clippers sit 1 1/2 games back of the Los Angeles Lakers for the Pacific Division lead, the Pacers (25-18) have virtually no shot of catching the league-best Chicago Bulls in the Central Division after losing six of eight following a season-best 6-0 run.

Indiana has scored over 100 points twice in its last eight games after doing so in each of its previous five.

“Our offense just isn’t working,” forward Danny Granger said Saturday after the Pacers were swept in a home-and-home set by New York with a 102-88 home loss. “We’re not getting the job done. Our goal is to win games, and we’re not going to win games this way.”

Perhaps the addition of veteran guard Leandro Barbosa will provide a spark. Acquired from Toronto on Thursday for a second-round draft pick and cash, Barbosa is expected to make his Pacers debut Tuesday. He scored a team-high 19 points for the Raptors in a 103-91 road loss to the Clippers on Jan. 22.

While Indiana needs to get its offense in gear, it faces a stiff test against All-Star forward Blake Griffin, who had a career-high 47 points in the last meeting, a 114-107 home win for the Clippers on Jan. 17, 2011.

Given the outside shot by the Pacers, Griffin hit a number of tough jumpers and made a career-best 19 field goals while also grabbing 14 rebounds.

Griffin had 12 points with eight boards as the Clippers were routed 107-80 in their last visit to Indianapolis on Nov. 18, 2010.

The Pacers have won four in a row against Western Conference foes and are 9-3 against teams outside the East.

The Clippers have won 11 of 15 against the East, taking four of six on the road.

The post Clippers vs Pacers Preview appeared first on IdealCapper.