With 5 minutes, 16 seconds remaining in the first quarter, McKie reported in to give Claxton a rest. In turn, the crowd gave him a rousing standing ovation. He was nervous, but that felt good.

McKie missed his two shots in the first half but made 3 of 4 in the second half, when the Sixers really needed them. He finished with 12 points, an assist, a steal, and a rebound in 21 minutes.

Likewise, Derrick Coleman was huge, posting his 20th double-double of the season with 18 points and 10 rebounds. And in his 11th start of his rookie season, Claxton finished with 17 points, five rebounds and four assists.

"I expected us to be nervous and New York to be loose," Brown said. "But we have a lot of guys with character. The bottom line is, this is a bunch of guys that want to do the right thing and understand we lost a great player and we're trying to hold the fort until, hopefully, he can come back."

Although they missed 24 of 35 shots from the field in the first half, the Sixers had a precarious 40-39 lead at the break.

In the third quarter, Coleman hit a three-pointer that put them ahead by 49-47. They did not relinquish the lead, which grew to 74-62 with 6:03 remaining.

The Sixers were cruising. The Knicks, who entered the game with a 26-41 record, sitting in the Atlantic Division cellar, looked cooked.

But with the help of four three-pointers, including three by Latrell Sprewell, the Knicks went on an 18-9 run to pull to within 83-80 with 1:13 left.