NEW YORK — Carmelo Anthony had 19 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists in his return from a two-game absence, and the New York Knicks snapped a four-game losing streak with a 102-84 victory over the Phoenix Suns on Friday
NEW YORK — Carmelo Anthony had 19 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists in his return from a two-game absence, and the New York Knicks snapped a four-game losing streak with a 102-84 victory over the Phoenix Suns on Friday night.
Kristaps Porzingis also rejoined the lineup with seven points and seven rebounds, and the Knicks sent the Suns to their 13th straight road loss.
Anthony had sat out with soreness in his surgically repaired left knee, and Porzingis missed his first game of the season Thursday with an upper respiratory illness. Having them back helped Arron Afflalo, who scored 12 of his 17 points in helping the Knicks open a big first-quarter lead that was never really threatened.
Rookie Devin Booker scored 21 points for the Suns, who fell to 4-21 on the road. Their last road victory was Dec. 7 in Chicago.
CELTICS 113, MAGIC 94
BOSTON — Kelly Olynyk and Marcus Smart scored 16 points apiece as the Boston Celtics won a season-high fifth straight game, beating the slumping Orlando Magic.
Jae Crowder and Evan Turner each added 15 points, and Isaiah Thomas had 14 points and eight assists in just 27 minutes. Led by Olynyk, who scored nine points in the fourth quarter, the Celtics seized control by starting the period on a 22-4 run and pushing their lead as high as 27.
Nik Vucevic led Orlando with 14 points and eight rebounds. Shabazz Napier added 13 points. Orlando has lost 10 consecutive regular-season games in Boston.
CAVALIERS 114, PISTONS 106
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. — Kevin Love scored 19 of his 29 points in the first half, Kyrie Irving had 28 points and the Cleveland Cavaliers rolled to another high-scoring win, 114-106 over the Detroit Pistons.
The Cavaliers have won three straight since losing to Chicago in Tyronn Lue’s first game as Cleveland’s coach.
Cleveland has scored at least 114 points in each of the past three games. LeBron James had 20 points, nine rebounds and eight assists, shrugging off a rare missed dunk in the third quarter. He surpassed the 26,000-point mark during that period, becoming the youngest player to do so at 31 years, 30 days.
Andre Drummond had 20 points and eight rebounds for Detroit.
HEAT 107, BUCKS 103
MILWAUKEE — Dwyane Wade scored 24 points and hit a long jumper with 44.5 seconds left, and the Miami Heat won their third straight road game by beating the Milwaukee Bucks.
Wade led a balanced scoring effort with all five Miami starters scoring in double figures. Chris Bosh added 20.
Wade’s step-back jumper from just inside the arc gave Miami a 103-101 lead. The Heat could have had a smoother finish if Wade hadn’t gone 2 of 4 from the foul line after his jumper. But Wade finished off the Bucks by hitting two foul shots with 3.9 seconds left to give the Heat a four-point edge. Miami is headed home after wrapping up a five-game, 10-day road trip.
Giannis Antetokounmpo led the Bucks with 28 points.
MAVERICKS 91, NETS 79
DALLAS — Chandler Parsons had 19 points and a season-high 10 rebounds while Deron Williams struggled in his first game against his former team and the Dallas Mavericks beat the Brooklyn Nets.
Parsons led the Mavericks in scoring for the fifth time in six games and is averaging 24 points during that span. Williams, who sat out a visit to Brooklyn in December with a left hamstring strain, scored eight points on 3-of-14 shooting.
Brook Lopez scored 28 points to lead the Nets, who had a four-game winning streak in Dallas snapped. Brooklyn is 3-12 in January with one game remaining in the month, which included the firing of coach Lionel Hollins.
THUNDER 116, ROCKETS 108
OKLAHOMA CITY — Russell Westbrook’s sixth triple-double of the season helped the Thunder defeat the Houston Rockets.
Westbrook finished with 26 points, 14 assists and 10 rebounds. It was the 25th triple-double of his career.
Kevin Durant had 33 points and 12 rebounds and Enes Kanter scored 20 of his 22 points in the second half for the Thunder, who have won 10 of 11 overall and six straight at home.
James Harden had 33 points, seven rebounds and seven assists for the Rockets. Houston’s Dwight Howard was ejected in the third quarter after picking up his second technical foul, and Kanter scored all 20 of his second-half points after that.
JAZZ 103, TIMBERWOLVES 90
SALT LAKE CITY — Rodney Hood scored 22 points, Derrick Favors had 20 in his return to the starting lineup and the Utah Jazz beat the Minnesota Timberwolves to win consecutive games for the first time in nearly three weeks.
The Timberwolves kept it close until late in the third quarter, when the Jazz closed on a 14-0 run that started with Favors’ put-back dunk and ended with Trey Burke’s 3-pointer. This was Favors’ third game back and first as a starter since missing 16 games with a back/hip injury.
Hood reached 20 points for the fourth time in five games.
Karl-Anthony Towns led Minnesota with 32 points and 12 rebounds, and Gorgui Dieng added 20 points and 15 rebounds.
CLIPPERS 105, LAKERS 93
LOS ANGELES — Chris Paul scored 27 points and the Los Angeles Clippers beat the Lakers for their franchise-record ninth straight victory over their Staples Center co-tenant.
Austin Rivers added 17 points off the bench for the Clippers, who improved to 14-3 without Blake Griffin. Their star forward is out for at least a month with a broken right hand after punching a team staff member on the road last weekend. He had already been out since Dec. 26 with another injury.
Julius Randle had 23 points and 14 rebounds for the Lakers, who dropped their ninth in a row and 13th in 14 games. Kobe Bryant sat out with various ailments.
TRAIL BLAZERS 109, HORNETS 91
PORTLAND, Ore. — Damian Lillard scored 22 points and Allen Crabbe added 20 off the bench to help the Portland Trail Blazers top the Charlotte Hornets.
C.J. McCollum and Al-Farouq Aminu each had 17 points for the Blazers, who have won three straight and seven of their last nine games overall. They’ve won eight straight over Charlotte at home.
Marvin Williams had 20 points and nine rebounds as the Hornets fell to 6-17 on the road this season.
The game marked the return of Charlotte’s Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, who played his first game of the season after suffering a shoulder injury in the preseason. The Hornets’ top defender started and played 33 minutes, getting 13 points and seven rebounds.
