Crawford Key as Knicks Rally Past Bulls
NEW YORK,
06/07 first round deciding game? 
(Ticker) -- Jamal Crawford turned it on in the second half against his former team. His teammates joined him in the fourth quarter.
Crawford scored 23 of his season-high 28 points after the break and the New York Knicks scored the first 13 points of the fourth quarter en route to a 109-101 comeback victory over the Chicago Bulls,
knocking them out of the playoffs. The Knicks, who rallied from a 16-point deficit to even the series at 3
on Saturday, entered the final period trailing, 82-74, but opened with an 18-2 burst.
Much of the damage came at the line as New York made 12 free throws during the burst and was 45-of-57 overall.
"In the first half, we settled for jump shots and they executed," New York coach Isiah Thomas
said. "In the second half, we didn't settle for jump shots. We got to the free-throw line and to the rim a lot."
Traded from the Bulls to the Knicks in the summer of 2004, Crawford led the Knicks with more than just scoring. New York tied it, 82-82, when he led a fast break and drew the defense by driving to the basket before throwing a behind-the-back pass to Renaldo Balkman
, who dunked over center Ben Wallace.
"Everyone who came in contributed," Crawford said. "Guys got me open. Guys set some good screens. (Stephon Marbury) found me and coach ran some great plays. They make it easy on me - I just had to catch and shoot."
After Crawford, who was 10-of-10 from the line, sank a pair to close out the 13-0 burst, he finished off the 18-2 run by drilling a 3-pointer to make it 92-84 with 6:19 remaining.
Isiah also praised Crawford's defense
, which was highlighted by his efforts to stop Ben Gordon and Kirk Hinrich, who did little in the second half.
Crawford's inability to execute down the stretch at the United Center also gave his former team back home-court advantage. In a 91-90 loss, Crawford missed a pair of free throws with 11 seconds remaining and Gordon buried the game-winning shot.
"It feels really good," Crawford said. "I took it personally (those losses), especially the last game."
Rookie Channing Frye scored 21 points and Marbury added 18 on 12-of-14 free-throw shooting as New York had its best offensive output of the season.
"It shows the potential," Frye said. "We need to come just from the start, especially at home."
Gordon sank a career-high seven 3-pointers and scored a season-best 28 points for Chicago.
The Bulls stretched their lead to 69-57 on Hinrich's 3-pointer with 6:55 to play in the third period but were outscored, 52-32, the rest of the way.
"We stopped moving," said Hinrich, who finished with 14 points. "We gotta do a better job. We just didn't play well down the stretch."
"The only guy who seemed to have a chance on (Crawford) was Kirk," Chicago coach Scott Skiles said. "Kirk played him and did a nice job on him but whoever else was on him - he just took it and scored on him at will."
With the win the knicks advance to the second round of the playoffs to face the winner of the Detroit/Indiana series.
edit:
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