NBA Wrap: Knicks tame Bulls

NEW YORK — Carmelo Anthony scored 27 points and the New York Knicks beat the weary Chicago Bulls 107-91 on Saturday night (Sunday Manila time) for their fourth straight victory.

A night after losing a four-overtime game in Chicago, the Bulls started well and had a strong third quarter, but the rest of the night mostly belonged to the Knicks.

Arron Afflalo added 18 points for New York, which got back to .500 at 14-14 after winning just 17 games last season. Lance Thomas scored 13 off the bench.

Joakim Noah had a season-high 21 points for the Bulls in his first start of the season. Rookie forward Bobby Portis had the best night of his brief career with 20 points and 11 rebounds.

THUNDER 118, LAKERS 78

OKLAHOMA CITY — Kevin Durant had 22 points and eight rebounds, Enes Kanter had 19 points and 14 rebounds and Oklahoma City beat Los Angeles for its eighth straight home victory.

Russell Westbrook added 13 points and 11 assists for his 18th double-double of the season for Oklahoma City. The Thunder won for the fifth straight time against the Lakers.

Kobe Bryant sat for Los Angeles with a sore right shoulder, and the Lakers started seldom-used rookie Anthony Brown in his place. Lou Williams scored 20 points and Jordan Clarkson added 15, but the Lakers lost for the 15th time in 17 games.

ROCKETS 107, CLIPPERS 97

HOUSTON — Dwight Howard had 22 points and 14 rebounds and Houston built a huge lead early and rolled to a 107-97 win over Los Angeles.

Houston led by as many as 26 points in the first half and was up by 12 after three quarters. The Rockets opened the fourth with an 8-2 run to make it 91-73. Marcus Thornton highlighted that spurt when he drove into the lane, evaded Blake Griffin and finished with a layup.

Houston pushed the lead to 95-76 with about 7 1/2 minutes left when Howard blocked a shot by Austin Rivers, and Trevor Ariza grabbed the ball and dished it to Howard, who finished with a dunk on the other end.

The starters for both teams sat down a few minutes after that.

GRIZZLIES 96, PACERS 84

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Marc Gasol had 19 points and 12 rebounds, Matt Barnes finished with 15 points and 10 rebounds and Memphis beat Indiana.

Mike Conley added 20 points and eight assists as the Grizzlies snapped a two-game skid. Mario Chalmers had 12 points for Memphis and Jeff Green added 11.

Paul George led the Pacers with 29 points, despite going 8 of 22 from the field. Monta Ellis scored 13 points and Rodney Stuckey had 11 points. Jordan Hill finished with 10 points and 13 rebounds.

The loss snapped Indiana's three-game winning streak.

WIZARDS 109, HORNETS 101

WASHINGTON — John Wall had 27 points and 12 assists, Garrett Temple scored a career-high 21 points and Washington beat Charlotte.

Wall scored 20 points in the first half and then drilled a key jumper with just over 2 minutes left in the game after the Hornets nearly erased a 15-point deficit. Cody Zeller's layup cut the lead to 99-98 with 2:24 to play.

Jared Dudley matched a season high with 19 points and Marcin Gortat had 18 points for Washington.

Kemba Walker led Charlotte with 18 points, and Jeremy Lin had 15.

In the teams' first meeting of the season, the Wizards scored just six points in the fourth quarter in a 101-87 loss on Nov. 25.