Stoudemire leads rested Knicks over Thunder

The energy was back, both at the Garden and in the Knicks. With Donnie Walsh in attendance for the first time in over a month, the Knicks' rested legs ran off a 112-98 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder Wednesday night to snap a three-game losing streak.

"A lot of rest over the last few days, which was great for us," said Amar'e Stoudemire, who led the way once again with 23 points, seven rebounds and three blocked shots. "It showed out there."

After sputtering in the second half against Miami on Friday and going completely flat the next night in Cleveland, a three-day break between games was welcomed and the response was noticeable. And, yes, it did help that NBA scoring leader Kevin Durant (26 points) and the Thunder (20-10) came in playing the second game of a road back-to-back.

With Walsh, who had hip surgery on Nov. 12, looking on from his seat near the tunnel, Mike D'Antoni's rotation stayed at eight for most of the game, but it was the contributions made by those three players that D'Antoni utilized off the bench - Ronny Turiaf, Toney Douglas and Shawne Williams - that made the difference, as the Knicks' bench provided some positive minutes. The main reserves combined for 27 points and all three played more than 18 minutes for the Knicks (17-12).

"Today, coach rode with us a bit longer," said Turiaf, who had 11 points in 21:56. "Then you are able to get into the flow of the game."

The bench played a big role in the second quarter, when the Knicks used an 11-0 run - book ended by Turiaf scores - to rally from an eight-point deficit to take a 44-41 lead. The Knicks built a 19-point lead in the third quarter, but the Thunder rallied to cut it to eight. The Knicks led 90-80 early in the fourth quarter when they finally put the game away with a 7-0 run, capped by a Douglas layup off a pretty feed by Landry Fields, to make it 97-80 with 9:50 left. Scott Brooks finally pulled his starters when the Knicks' lead ballooned to 20 points at 106-86, with 5:20 to play.

Stoudemire still played 37 minutes, but it almost seemed like a vacation compared to last week, when he was logging more than 40 minutes per game and left Cleveland with a painful stinger in his neck that temporarily caused numbness down his arm.

"I needed that," Stoudemire said. "Those three days were great for me to allow it to heal and for me to rest."

Wilson Chandler added 21 points, Raymond Felton had 14 points and 10 assists and Fields 14 points and 10 rebounds for the Knicks. Russell Westbrook had 23 points for the Thunder.

It was a head-to-head battle between the league's top two scorers, as Stoudemire entered averaging 26.5 points per game, behind Kevin Durant's 27.6. Durant was defended mostly by 6-10 Danilo Gallinari and after scoring 19 points in the first half, had just seven (3-for-7 shooting) in the second half.

"I thought Gallo did a great job on Durant," D'Antoni said, "if that's possible."

There are two more days before the team's next game, Christmas Day against the Bulls, followed by another two days before the team heads out for a pair of road games against the Heat and Magic next week to end the calendar year.