NEW YORK, March 18, (Agencies): Toney Douglas shot a sparkling 29-point haul off the bench to help the New York Knicks set a franchise record for three-pointers in their 120-99 rout of the Memphis Grizzlies on Thursday.
The second-year guard Douglas also tied the franchise’s individual three-point record, his ninth successful shot landing with 17 seconds to play and handing the Knicks (35-32) their record-setting 20th for the night.
“The dude at the scorer’s table just said, ‘Hit one more three.’ I was like, ‘Huh?’ I didn’t really realise it would tie the (individual) record,” Douglas told reporters.
“He just said to hit one more three, but I didn’t really pay any mind. I was just playing my game and taking what the defense gave me.”

Douglas’s shooting masterclass allowed the Knicks to hold on to sixth place in the Eastern Conference with a half-game lead over the Philadelphia 76ers.
Carmelo Anthony added 28 points while Chauncey Billups finished with 18 points and eight assists for New York in his best performance since returning from a thigh injury earlier this week. The Grizzlies (37-32) trailed for most of the match and fell 18 behind after three quarters as their hold on the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference was trimmed to just one game. Mike Conley scored 16 points and had six assists. Zach Randolph put in 14 in the loss, Memphis’s third in four games.
New York shot seven three-pointers in the third quarter to keep the Grizzlies at bay.

Trail Blazers 11, Cavaliers 70
In Portland, Oregon, LaMarcus Aldridge had 20 points and 11 rebounds before heading to the sideline late in the third quarter as Portland routed Cleveland.
Portland led by as many as 44 points while easily surpassing its largest margin of victory this season. Gerald Wallace added 17 points for the Blazers, who had 29 assists compared to Cleveland’s total of six.
The Cavaliers, with the league’s worst record at 13-54, made just 21 shots from the floor in shooting 35.6 percent. Ramon Sessions had 14 points.

Bulls 84, Nets 73
In Newark, New Jersey, Derrick Rose scored 21 points and Britain’s Luol Deng added 19 to spark the Chicago Bulls over New Jersey 84-73, putting the Bulls on top of the NBA’s Eastern Conference.
The Bulls stretched their win streak to six games, their longest triumphant run in six seasons, while the Nets saw a five-game win streak, their longest in five years, come to an end in what was their lowest-scoring game of the season.
“We’ve got a great team,” Deng said. “We’ve got guys who come off the bench and do a good job of carrying us. We just have to keep on playing. We know we still have a long way to go.”
Chicago improved to 49-18, breaking their tie with Boston for the top mark in the East in the fight for a home-court edge in the playoffs.

“We just want to take it step by step,” Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said.
“If we do the right things every day, the results will take care of themselves.”
New Jersey fell to 22-44, six games behind Indiana for the last playoff spot in the East. Kyle Korver added 12 points while rookie Omer Asik added 11 points and 16 rebounds for the Bulls, who led 43-36 at half-time and 60-50 after three quarters before the Nets pulled even three times in the fourth quarter, the last on two Korver free throws with 4:06 to play.
Deng and Rose answered with baskets and the Nets never pulled even again. Deng scored 10 points in the first half while Rose had eight of his in the third quarter and Korver scored seven of his in the fourth quarter.

The Nets as a team shot only 35 percent from the field (29-of-83) and connected on only 3-of-19 3-point attempts against the NBA’s second-ranked defensive unit.
“That’s what we’ve been doing the whole year, playing defense,” Rose said. “If our offense isn’t going, and that rarely happens, we rely on our defense.
“At first, they were getting everything they wanted. Then we just closed down the paint and rebounded the ball.”
Brook Lopez led the Nets with 22 points while Sasha Vujacic and Kris Humphries each scored 13 points. Humphries added 16 rebounds while Deron Williams passed around 11 assists but shot only 1-of-12 for just five points.
“We could have played a lot better and shot a lot better, but they are a good defensive team,” Williams said. “That’s what they pride themselves on.”