Knicks 108, Pistons 96
NEW YORK -- The New York Knicks ended a four-game losing streak, turning back the Detroit Pistons 108-96 Tuesday at Madison Square Garden.
Knicks (15-18) forward Carmelo Anthony poured in 24 points, passing former Philadelphia 76er Hal Greer for 32nd place on the NBA's all-time scoring list. Greer recorded 21,586 points; Anthony now has 21,604 points.
Just ahead of Anthony is Larry Bird with 21,791 points.
Point guard Jose Calderon added 15 points, forwards Derrick Williams and Kyle O'Quinn contributed 18 and 12 points, respectively, off the bench. Williams scored 17 points in the fourth quarter.
Forward Ersan Ilyasova paced Detroit (17-15) with 19 points and forward Marcus Morris and point guard Reggie Jackson each scored 17. Center Andre Drummond, the league leader in rebounding, scored 13 points and grabbed nine rebounds.
The Knicks closed out the game on a 21-10 run over the last 4:58 of the game.
A basket from Williams put the Knicks up 93-83 with 6:22 left to play.
Anthony ignited a 13-4 Knicks run in the third quarter with a 20-foot jumper on the way to a 65-54 lead with 7:37 remaining in the quarter. He dropped in nine points in the quarter.
The Knicks bench scored 17 points in the first half to help New York to a 50-49 edge. Ilyasova (14), Morris (13) and Jackson (11) combined for 38 of Detroit's first-half points.
New York took its first lead, 29-28, early in the second quarter on a short jumper from forward Kyle O'Quinn, then went on a 13-7 run to move ahead with 4:35 left in the quarter.
The Knicks were able to close the Detroit lead to 26-25 at the close of the first quarter after being down by as many as seven points.
NOTES: Knicks F Lou Amundson was out Tuesday night with back spasms. ... The Pistons are the Knicks' sixth opponent in a stretch of 11 games against teams that are .500 or better. ... The Pistons entered the game with assists on a league-low 48.2 percent of their field goals. ... Knicks G Arron Afflalo was drafted by the Pistons with the 27th overall pick in 2007 and played for Detroit from 2007 to 2009. ... The Knicks rank first in the league in free throw percentage (81.1) and opponent 3-point field goal percentage (30.6)