Knicks 106, Bulls 94
NEW YORK -- The New York Knicks completed a back-to-back sweep of the Chicago Bulls with a 106-94 win Thursday at Madison Square Garden.
New York (30-43) defeated the Bulls 115-107 in Chicago on Wednesday.
The two losses cramp the Bulls' run for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Chicago (36-35) fell 1 1/2 games behind the Detroit Pistons in the race for eighth place.
Carmelo Anthony paced the Knicks with 26 points, and rookie forward Kristaps Porzingis scored 19 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. Derrick Williams added 13 points, and Jose Calderon chipped in with 12 points.
Derrick Rose poured in 30 points for the Bulls, who were without forward Pau Gasol, who was resting his swollen right knee.
An 8-3 run gave the Knicks a comfortable 102-86 cushion with 2:52 to play.
A three-quarter alley-oop pass from Calderon to Williams pushed the Knicks to a 90-74 lead, their largest to that point, with 7:29 to play.
A jumper from Porzingis, a reverse layup from Arron Afflalo and a 3-pointer from Calderon opened the Knicks' advantage to 71-57 with 2:47 left in the third quarter after the Bulls missed four shots in a row.
Anthony and Porzingis deposited 12 points each in the first half to put the Knicks ahead 53-45 at the break. Rose scored six consecutive points to bring the Bulls within 38-35 with 6:02 left in the half.
Chicago struggled through a poor shooting first half, hitting just one of 12 3-point attempts.
After shooting 55 percent from the floor in the first quarter, the Bulls missed their first eight shots of the second quarter and fell behind 36-27 before Nikola Mirotic's put-back dunk at the 8:44 mark.
For the game, Chicago made six of 25 3-point tries, while New York sank 13 of 30. The Knicks hit 51.3 percent of their field-goal attempts while limiting the Bulls to 41.6 percent shooting.
NOTES: The Bulls play eight of their final 12 games on the road. ... The Knicks played the back end final of 17 back-to-backs this season. ... Bulls rookie F Cristiano Felicio was making only his second start of the season. He scored six points in 21 minutes. ... Chicago has lost 170 games due to injury or illness this season. Last year, the Bulls missed 148 total. ... G Tony Wroten (right knee rehabilitation) and F Lance Thomas (strained left MCL) were out for the Knicks.