’Melo leads Knicks over Kobe-less Lakers
Miami holds off late rally to beat Celtics
NEW YORK — Carmelo Anthony hears those voices saying he’s getting old, that he can’t jump like he once did.
Hard not to, since some of them are coming from right in his own locker room.
Anthony answered in his own way Sunday, scoring 18 of his 31 points in the third quarter as the New York Knicks beat the Los Angeles Lakers 92-80.
He stared back toward his own bench in the second quarter after rising high to slam down a lob pass from Jason Smith, revealing that his teammates were teasing the 30-yearold forward recently after seeing him dunk.
“They said they haven’t seen that before in a long time,” Anthony said, “and we had this conversation before the game today, so it was just one of those moments where I had to look at the bench and let them know that I’ve still got it.”
With Kobe Bryant out for the season and both teams among the worst in the NBA (the Knicks are 10-38, the Lakers 13-35), it was anything but a Super Sunday in New York.
Anthony stood out above the ugliness, turning mostly to his jumper in the third quarter to help New York pull away. He shot 13 of 25 and grabbed eight rebounds.
“Melo got hot, had it going and gave them a nice cushion,” Lakers forward Carlos Boozer said. “We tried to fight back a little bit but it was a little too late.”
Langston Galloway added 13 points for the Knicks, who have won five of seven.
Boozer had 19 points and 10 rebounds for the Lakers, who lost for the 10th time in 11 games. Jordan Clarkson also scored 19 points.
The Lakers had snapped their nine-game losing streak with a double-overtime victory over Chicago on Thursday but they remain lost on the road, where they fell for the seventh straight time.
“We just got off to a bad start in the first quarter,” Lakers coach Byron Scott said. “I thought New York’s energy was a whole lot harder than ours and their effort was a lot better than ours. They just played better.”
HEAT 83, CELTICS 75: In Boston, Hassan Whiteside scored half of his 20 points during a dominant stretch spanning the third and fourth quarters to help Miami stave off Boston’s rally to snap a two-game slide.
Whiteside also had nine rebounds and blocked three shots, while Chris Bosh added 18 points and Tyler Johnson had 13, helping overcome the absences of Dwyane Wade and Luol Deng.
Wade missed his second game in a row with a strained right hamstring, while Deng sat out his third straight with a strained calf. Wade, who injured himself in Tuesday’s loss to Milwaukee, is averaging 21.4 points and 5.4 assists per game.
Avery Bradley and Tyler Zeller led the Celtics with 17 points apiece, and Brandon Bass had 15. It was Boston’s third straight loss and fourth in its last five.