Anthony has 30 before injury in Knicks’ win

Carmelo Anthony scored 22 of his 30 points in the first quarter, and the New York Knicks held on after he departed with a sprained left ankle to beat the Los Angeles Lakers 116-107 on Thursday night in coach Mike D’Antoni’s return to Madison Square Garden.

Firing in 3-pointers and moving the ball to open shooters, things they often struggled to do under D’Antoni, the Knicks won for the eighth time in nine games and improved to 9-0 at home for the first time since the 1992-93 season.

Meanwhile, things are starting as poorly for D’Antoni in Los Angeles as they ended in New York. The Lakers, still without Steve Nash and Pau Gasol, were never really in the game while losing their fourth straight and falling to 9-14.

Hawks 113, Bobcats 90: Devin Harris scored 20 points, Josh Smith added 18 and host Atlanta beat Charlotte to hand the Bobcats their 10th straight defeat.

Gerald Henderson finished with 17 points and Ramon Sessions had 16 for Charlotte.

The Hawks are 123 since losing three of their first five games this season. Atlanta has won two straight and five of six.

Lou Williams had eight of his nine assists in the first half for Atlanta. Wil- liams, who finished with 13 points, matched his career high in assists, and Ivan Johnson added a season-high 16 points.

Hawks center Al Horford finished with 11 points and three rebounds, ending his streak of seven consecutive double-doubles.

Atlanta got off to a strong start offensively, hitting nearly 63 percent of its first 35 shots before Horford and Williams missed jumpers to end the first half.

Late Wednesday

Jazz 99, Spurs 96: Mo Williams had just missed from 3-point range with 9.9 seconds left and the game tied against Western Conference nemesis San Antonio.

Instead of getting grief from his coach, Williams got another green light.

“Coach told me don’t worry about it. You’ll make the next one,” Williams said. He did. Williams hit a 3pointer at the buzzer to lift the host Utah Jazz to a 99-96 victory Wednesday night that snapped the Spurs’ fivegame winning streak.

New York’s Carmelo Anthony left with a sprained ankle in the third quarter, but not before he had 30 points as the Knicks built a big lead and held off the Lakers for a 116-107 win in New York.