Doug Collins Thinks Highly of Knicks Roughly 10 days into the 2012-13 season, the Knicks were the only unbeaten team in the N.B.A. Two-thirds of their three wins had come against the Philadelphia 76ers, a 100-84 victory in Madison Square Garden on Nov. 4 and a 110-88 victory in Philadelphia the next night. Sixers Coach Doug Collins, in Boston for Friday night's game against the Celtics, offered unsolicited praise for the Knicks at his pre-game press briefing. He segued from discussing his team's defensive shortcomings to extolling the Knicks, who were responsible for his team's only losses through four games. "I'm not going to overreact to two losses to New York, because I think right now, arguably they could be playing as well as anybody in the East," Collins said. If Miami is 1, then they're 1A. They played great against us on both ends of the floor. The Knicks were ranked No. 1 in the N.B.A. through three games in point-differential, points against and turnovers. The three Knicks' victories were by an average of 19 points a game - Miami was next at 10 - while their defense was allowing 85 points a game. Coach Mike Woodson started two point guards against the Sixers - Raymond Felton and Jason Kidd - and the Knicks turned it over 21 times in the two games. They were averaging a league-fewest 12 turnovers a game heading into their Friday night game against the Mavericks. Things may be quite different the next time the two teams meet. The Knicks and Sixers do not play again until Jan. 26 in Philadelphia. They finish their season series on Feb. 24 in Madison Square Center.