PHILADELPHIA — Mike Woodson is alive for five.
The Knicks owned the crowd and shut down the Sixers, forcing them to miss their first 14 shots, and then point guard Jeremy Lin swatted away their second-half rally to pull off a 82-79 victory Wednesday night. Woodson moved to 5-0 as interim coach and the win moved the Knicks to within three games of Philadelphia for the Atlantic Division lead. The Knicks would own the tiebreaker if they finished tied for the division.
Despite a light offensive showing by Carmelo Anthony, Lin shook off a slow start and scored 16 of his 18 points in the fourth quarter. Once again, the defense powered the Knicks before a Wells Fargo Center crowd that was filled with thousands of loud Knicks fans.
Amar’e Stoudemire led the Knicks with 21 points and nine rebounds and a big block on Elton Brand late on a dunk attempt. Meanwhile, Lin came alive in the fourth quarter and keyed a game-breaking 8-0 run.
Lin started the game 1 of 13 but was best when it counted. He also had a key block on a Jodie Meeks jumper with two minutes left. Anthony finished with just 10 points on 5 of 15 shooting.
Woodson entered the game as the first coach to win his first four games by a combined 90 points. He’s just the second coach in history — Bill Sharman being the other — to win his first four games with a new team by at least 14 points in each contest.
Lin’s jump shot was flat, and he seemed weary on the second night of the back-to-back. He shot just 1 of 9 in the first half for just two points, missing a lot of open jumpers.
Lin missed his first two jumpers in the third quarter to go to 1 of 11 when Woodson pulled him for Baron Davis, who made his return from a two-game absence despite still feeling pain in his right hamstring.
But then Lin came on like gangbusters in the fourth quarter. Mike D’Antoni, who resigned a week ago, has always called Lin “a winner’’ and he showed that again.
Lin hit a floater for a 61-58 lead with 10:00 left. On the Knicks next possession, after two misses and offensive rebounds, Lin brought the ball back to midcourt. Lin then snaked to the rim and hit a fallaway, off-balance runner to put the Knicks up 63-60.
After Lou Williams tied the game with a 3-pointer, the Knicks went on an 8-0 run that included Lin scoring on a burst to the hole for a 69-63 lead.
The run started on a tic-tac-toe play as Lin fed Anthony down low but saw the double-team and flicked it to Stoudemire all alone for a dunk and 65-63 lead with 8:00 left.
“We’re playing with more confidence,’’ Woodson said before tip-off. “We’re playing harder. Our energy level is sky high. And defensively we’re defending like the Philly team has all year. We’re sharing the ball offensively. It’s a beautiful combination and we’ve won four straight.
The Sixers missed their first 14 shots, with the Knicks playing the same relentless defense they have employed the whole week. On the second possession, Tyson chandler blocked two 76ers shots at the rim, leading to a 24-second violation.
The Knicks stormed to a 9-0 lead as the 76ers didn’t score until two free throws with 6:19 left in the first and didn’t notch their first field goal until Elton Brand sank a jumper with 4:12 left, bringing the score to 17-5.
Philadelphia had just five points with 1:30 left and trailed 19-11 after one quarter. The 11 points were the lowest the Knicks have allowed in the first quarter all season as the Sixers shot 3 of 17 (17.6 percent).
In the final minute, Stoudemire scored on a putback dunk, posed and yelped at the crowd — which began chanting “De-fense!’’
The Sixers trimmed the lead to 31-29 in the second quarter but Landry Fields completed a 3-point play after a strong drive to give the Knicks breathing room. Anthony scored on an ahead-of-the-field fastbreak dunk off a long feed from Chandler and the Knicks went back on top 38-29.
Stoudemire punctuated his strong half with another monster putback dunk and finished with a team-leading 12 points. Stoudemire got his last points of the half after a struggling Lin drove the hole and missed the layup. Stoudemire missed his first follow-up, grabbed the ball off the floor, dunked it hard, bellowed at the fans, while flexing his muscles with 0.9 seconds left to intermission to give the Knicks a 43-35 halftime lead.
Woodson didn’t get Tim Tebow to the Jets yet, but he’s done everything else in New York in his first week on the job.