Knicks top struggling Pistons

Derrick Rose scored 27 points, Kristaps Porzingis had 25 and the New York Knicks handed the Detroit Pistons another damaging defeat with a 109-95 victory Monday night in New York.

Carmelo Anthony returned from a two-game absence due to a sore left knee and added 21 as the Knicks snapped a fivegame losing streak and avoided playoff elimination.

Marcus Morris scored 20 points but Detroit dropped its fourth straight and fell 1½ games behind Miami for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Ish Smith had 15 points while former starting point guard Reggie Jackson didn’t play.

The Knicks shot 60 percent in the first half and turned it over to their defense to start the second, pitching a shutout for more than seven minutes to start the third quarter.

The Pistons had already lost to Brooklyn, Chicago and Orlando during what should have been a favorable portion of their schedule to mount a playoff push, and coach Stan Van Gundy said his players were frustrated because of how badly their offense was struggling.

It was downright inept in the third quarter. Van Gundy burned a timeout just 35 seconds into the period with the Knicks on their way to a 15-0 run that turned a five-point halftime lead into a 79-59 bulge. Detroit missed its first 10 shots before Kentavious Caldwell-Pope made a 3-pointer with 4:52 left in the third.

Family Feud

A battle over control of the Los Angeles Lakers is over after an agreement was reached to have Jeanie Buss serve as controlling owner of the storied NBA franchise for the rest of her life, making permanent the arrangement her late father and longtime Lakers owner Jerry Buss said in his will that he wanted.

The agreement was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Monday and states that Jim and Johnny Buss have agreed that their sister will serve as the controlling owner. The filing ends weeks of uncertainty about control of the Lakers as the franchise tries to put several losing seasons behind it.

Earlier this month, Jeanie Buss went to court seeking an order to control the team after her brothers called for a board meeting that she interpreted as a challenge to her power. That filing came days after she removed Jim Buss as the Lakers’ executive vice president of basketball operations.