Allan Houston scored 10 of his 17 points in a one-sided first quarter as the New York Knicks cruised to a 98-67 exhibition victory Saturday night over the injury-depleted Philadelphia 76ers.New York took an 8-0 lead as four of the five Knicks starters scored. The Knicks shot 11-for-15 in the quarter to lead 32-8 after 12 minutes.
Philadelphia didn't dress six injured players, including All-Stars Allen Iverson and Dikembe Mutombo, and last season's NBA Sixth Man of the Year Aaron McKie. George Lynch, Eric Snow and Damone Brown also sat out.
Robert Traylor made the only field goal in the first quarter for Philadelphia, which missed 18 shots.
Latrell Sprewell scored eight of his 13 points in the quarter. Shandon Anderson also had 13 points, and Kurt Thomas and Larry Robinson each added 10 for New York. Former 76ers player Clarence Weatherspoon grabbed a game-high nine rebounds.
Raja Bell and Corey Benjamin led Philadelphia with 11 points each.
The Knicks didn't let up in the second quarter, opening with an 11-4 run to take a 43-12 lead with 7:05 remaining. New York held a 54-27 advantage at halftime.
In the third, Philadelphia used an 18-6 run to close within 60-45 with 5:47 left in the period. Speedy Claxton led the spurt with six of his nine points.
The Knicks outscored the Sixers 28-15 in the final quarter to pull away again.
