Knicks floor Hawks for 10th straight
ATLANTA — Carmelo Anthony scored 40 points, Raymond Felton had three straight baskets in a key spurt, and the New York Knicks beat the Atlanta Hawks, 95-82, on Wednesday night for their 10th straight victory.
Anthony, coming off a 50-point effort against Miami on Tuesday, scored 24 points in the first half. He shot 17-of-27 from the field and was 5-of- 6 from the free throw line.
Felton sparked a 12-2 run that turned a tie game into an 84-74 Knicks lead. He scored eight of his 12 points in the fourth quarter as the Knicks moved into sole possession of second place in the Eastern Conference.
Atlanta missed an opportunity to move into a tie for fourth in the East and wasted a 25-point effort by Kyle Korver, who came up two points short of his season high.
The Hawks got off to a 10-2 lead, as the Knicks made just one of their first eight shots from the floor. But the Knicks made nine of their next 14 shots and took a 23-18 lead at the end of the first quarter, with Anthony scoring 13.
The Knicks continued their hot shooting in the second quarter and four times had a seven-point lead, the last with 3:52 left when Anthony made a 20foot jumper. The Hawks countered with seven straight points and tied the game at 38 on Jeff Teague’s two free throws with 2:41 left. But the Knicks out- scored the Hawks, 9-2, the rest of the half to take a 47-40 lead into the locker room.
The Hawks came out strong in the third quarter and took a 60-59 lead when Teague drove and scored with 4:10 left. There were five lead changes and two more ties before the quarter ended with the score tied at 68.
IN OTHER GAMES
Nets 113, Cavaliers 95 at Cleveland: Deron Williams scored 24 points and Brooklyn ended an eightgame road trip by crushing the Cleveland Cavaliers, giving the Nets a record for road wins in a season.
The Nets shot 83 percent (15-of-18) in the second quarter, when they outscored the Cavs 38-16 and opened a 30-point lead without much of a fight. Brooklyn’s 21 road wins are the most for the franchise, which moved to the New York City borough from New Jersey this season.
MarShon Brooks made his first 10 shots and finished with a career-high 27 points for the Nets, who haven’t played at home since March 17 because the circus is at Barclays Center.
Celtics 98, Pistons 93 at Boston: Jeff Green scored 34 points, including a 3-pointer with 45 seconds left to snap Boston’s twominute scoring drought, and the Celtics clinched a playoff berth.
Paul Pierce and Brandon Bass scored 17 apiece for the Celtics, who had lost two in a row and seven of their previous nine.
Bobcats 88, 76ers 83 at Charlotte, N.C.: Gerald Henderson scored 24 points, Kemba Walker had 17 points, 10 assists and five steals, and the Charlotte Bobcats snapped Philadelphia’s three-game winning streak.
Henderson had a crucial steal late in the game and scored four points in the final minute to help the Bob- cats end a three-game skid. Josh McRoberts added 12 points and 16 rebounds for Charlotte.
Damien Wilkins had 20 points and nine rebounds for the 76ers, who were dealt a big blow to their already-thin playoff hopes.
Timberwolves 107, Bucks 98 at Milwaukee: Nikola Pekovic scored 27 points and Ricky Rubio added 18 points, 12 assists and eight steals to lead the Minnesota Timberwolves over the Milwaukee Bucks.
Pekovic made 11- of-14 shots from the field, while Rubio connected on five of his six attempts from 3-point range for the Timberwolves, who went 8-of13 from beyond the arc as a team and led throughout most of the game.
Ersan Ilyasova had 29 points and 12 rebounds, Monta Ellis scored 18 points, and Mike Dunleavy added 15 for Milwaukee.
Raptors 88, Wizards 78 at Toronto: Jonas Valanciunas scored a career-high 24 points and grabbed 10 rebounds as Toronto beat Washington.
Valanciunas went 16of-18 from the free throw line and DeMar DeRozan had 25 points for Toronto (28-47), which snapped a two-game slide after being eliminated from the playoff chase with Monday’s home loss to Detroit.
John Wall had 20 points for the short-handed Wizards (28- 47), who announced before the game that rookie standout Bradley Beal will miss the remainder of the season with a right leg injury.