NEW YORK -- Toney Douglas and Raymond Felton lack the speed of John Wall or the shooting of Gilbert Arenas.
But on the night the Washington Wizards finally got their guards together, the game belonged to the New York Knicks' duo.
Douglas had 19 points and a career-high 10 rebounds, Felton added 13 points and 10 assists, and the Knicks spoiled Arenas' return to NBA action with a 112-91 victory Friday night.
The Knicks' point guard combo outplayed the more heralded duo of No. 1 draft pick Wall and Arenas, who played in his first regular-season game in 10 months. And the Knicks' guards had much more help up front, with Amar'e Stoudemire scoring 18 points and Danilo Gallinari chipping in 16.
"We come out here to play basketball. I don't look at nobody like, 'Oh my goodness, that's Gilbert Arenas, oh my goodness, that's the first pick, John Wall,' " Felton said. "I look at it as he's another person just like I am. Puts his pants on just like I do. That don't mean nothing to me."
Douglas followed his career-best, 30-point outing Thursday, when the Knicks made 16 of 24 3-pointers in a 120-112 victory at Chicago, with another strong game, and fellow reserve Wilson Chandler scored 14 points.
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Wall sported gold sneakers for his regular-season debut at the building where he was picked first overall in June. But his game wasn't particularly shiny, especially compared to the 29 points, 13 assists and nine steals he had Tuesday in the Wizards' home-opening victory over Philadelphia.
The rookie from Kentucky finished with 13 points on 4-of-11 shooting. He had seven assists but turned it over nine times.
"I'm a leader, I've got to be a better leader and a better decision maker for my team," Wall said. "To win games I've got to keep the turnovers down."
He was joined in the backcourt at times by Arenas, who missed the first three games with an ankle injury and played in the regular season for the first time since Jan. 5, before he was suspended the final 50 games for carrying guns into the Verizon Center locker room.
Arenas scored 18 points, 14 in the final quarter to help Washington briefly make it close.
"First couple of them I rushed it, just being nervous out there. In the fourth quarter I felt comfortable," Arenas said. "It's really been a long time, they kept yelling at me to be aggressive and I was like, 'I forgot how to.' "
Arenas finally shook off the rust after New York built a 13-point lead in the fourth quarter. He scored nine straight Washington points during one stretch, and his jumper cut it to 94-88 with 6:52 remaining.
New York regrouped, getting a three-point play from Stoudemire and a 3-pointer by Gallinari to push the lead back to 12 and the Knicks stayed comfortably ahead from there to improve to 3-2.
"We're creating our own identity, making sure of our own destiny," Douglas said. "We know what it takes to win and everyone's on the same page."
It was the first game back at Madison Square Garden since the arena was closed Tuesday for an asbestos scare, forcing postponement of a game against Orlando. Debris had fallen into the arena during overnight maintenance the previous night, but city and environmental experts assured building officials there was no danger.
But though the air was safe, there always seems to be something -- or someone -- else hovering above the Garden.
Knicks officials had no interest in discussing comments made by former coach and president Isiah Thomas, who told ESPNNewYork.com that he hopes to return to his former executive position once Donnie Walsh retires "every single day of the week." Thomas also said he had a plan to get LeBron James last summer and hopes to be a part of his recruitment in 2014.
"I live in the present, so I'm not looking down the line too much," Walsh said. "I have nothing to say about comments that were made today by Isiah. I have nothing to say."
Andray Blatche scored 16 of his 22 points on 7-of-8 shooting in the first quarter, when the Wizards shot 65 percent to open a 27-26 lead. The Wizards still led by one midway though the second before the Knicks scored 10 straight, highlighted by Chandler's powerful reverse dunk, for a 52-43 lead.
Felton, who would need a healthy head start to beat Wall in a race, used an assortment of jumpers and floaters to score six straight later in the period, pushing the lead to 13, and the Knicks were up 58-49 at halftime.
Notes
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| The Knicks hold John Wall to 13 points in the No. 1 pick's debut at Madison Square Garden. (Getty Images) |
| Scoreboard | |||||
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T |
| Washington 1-3 | 27 | 22 | 24 | 18 | 91 |
| New York 3-2 « | 26 | 32 | 23 | 31 | 112 |
| WAS:A. Blatche 22 Pts WAS:J. McGee 8 Reb WAS:J. Wall 7 Ast |
NY:T. Douglas 19 Pts NY:T. Douglas 10 Reb NY:R. Felton 10 Ast |
| Players of the Game | |||||
| New York | Washington | ||||
![]() T. Douglas | ![]() A. Blatche | ||||
| Pts | Rebs | Ast | Pts | Rebs | Ast |
| 19 | 10 | 3 | 22 | 6 | 2 |
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| Washington | |||||||
| STARTERS | M | FG | FT | TR | A | PF | PTS |
| A. Blatche, C | 38 | 9-17 | 4-4 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 22 |
| J. Wall, PG | 35 | 4-11 | 5-6 | 4 | 7 | 2 | 13 |
| K. Hinrich, PG | 33 | 2-8 | 3-4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 7 |
| A. Thornton, SF | 26 | 4-9 | 0-0 | 6 | 0 | 3 | 8 |
| J. McGee, C | 25 | 4-5 | 0-0 | 8 | 0 | 5 | 8 |
| BENCH | M | FG | FT | TR | A | PF | PTS |
| G. Arenas, PG | 26 | 6-13 | 2-3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 18 |
| H. Armstrong, C | 18 | 2-4 | 0-0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| N. Young, SG | 15 | 1-3 | 1-1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Y. Jianlian, PF | 13 | 2-5 | 4-4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 8 |
| C. Martin, SF | 7 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| L. Hudson, SG | 2 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| T. Booker, PF | 2 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| J. Howard, SF | Did Not Play | ||||||
| H. Ndiaye, C | Did Not Play | ||||||
| K. Seraphin, PF | Did Not Play | ||||||
| Totals | 34-75 | 19-22 | 37 | 13 | 18 | 91 | |
| 45.3% | 86.4% | ||||||
| Complete Box Score | |||||||
| New York | |||||||
| STARTERS | M | FG | FT | TR | A | PF | PTS |
| A. Stoudemire, PF | 33 | 6-11 | 6-7 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 18 |
| D. Gallinari, SF | 33 | 6-13 | 0-1 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 16 |
| R. Felton, PG | 31 | 5-10 | 1-1 | 2 | 10 | 4 | 13 |
| L. Fields, SG | 20 | 2-5 | 0-0 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 5 |
| T. Mozgov, C | 14 | 3-4 | 0-2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 6 |
| BENCH | M | FG | FT | TR | A | PF | PTS |
| R. Turiaf, C | 30 | 4-4 | 2-2 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 10 |
| T. Douglas, PG | 30 | 8-19 | 0-0 | 10 | 3 | 1 | 19 |
| W. Chandler, SF | 24 | 5-8 | 3-3 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 14 |
| B. Walker, SG | 15 | 4-6 | 0-0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 9 |
| A. Randolph, PF | 10 | 1-7 | 0-2 | 7 | 0 | 3 | 2 |
| E. Curry, C | Did Not Play | ||||||
| R. Mason Jr., SG | Did Not Play | ||||||
| K. Azubuike, SF | Did Not Play | ||||||
| S. Williams, SF | Did Not Play | ||||||
| A. Rautins, SG | Did Not Play | ||||||
| Totals | 44-87 | 12-18 | 41 | 23 | 21 | 112 | |
| 50.6% | 66.7% | ||||||
| Complete Box Score | |||||||
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