Knicks 102, Pistons 87
Carmelo Anthony scored 11 of his 26 points in the first quarter as New York shot out to a big lead and held off Detroit in London.
Amare Stoudemire went 11-of-12 from the free throw line en route to 17 points and J.R. Smith added 16 for the Knicks, who were playing their first-ever game outside of North America.
Will Bynum scored 22 points off the bench, Kyle Singler added 15 and Greg Monroe collected 11 points and 10 rebounds as Detroit dropped its second straight game. The Pistons had won seven of nine prior to the recent skid.
New York connected on its first six field goal attempts, including a pair of 3-pointers from Anthony, to jump out to a 16-2 lead in less than four minutes. Anthony added seven more points in the second quarter as the Knicks stretched the lead to as much as 21 points before setting for a 56-41 edge at the half.
Detroit chopped the deficit to 67-63 on Monroe’s layup with 2:23 left in the third quarter, but New York closed out the period with an 8-0 burst to take a 12-point lead into the fourth. Bynum scored six straight points to knock it back to single digits with 5:48 left in the game before the Knicks took off on an 11-0 run to seal the win.
GAME NOTEBOOK: New York G Iman Shumpert (knee surgery) made his season debut and scored eight points in 15 minutes. … The Pistons had a big advantage on the inside, outscoring the Knicks 44-22 in the paint. … New York C Tyson Chandler, who played alongside Anthony in London over the summer for gold-medal winning Team USA, took a scary tumble under the basket due to a flagrant foul in the first quarter. He stayed in the game and finished with 10 points and 14 rebounds.