Carmelo Anthony scored 40 points — giving him 90 in two games — as 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 in a win over Miami on Tuesday, scored 24 points in the first half. He shot 17 of 27 from the field and was 5 for 6 from the free throw line. Raymond Felton supported with three straight baskets in a key spurt.
Atlanta missed an opportunity to move into a share of fourth in the East and wasted a 25-point effort by Kyle Korver.
Los Angeles beat Phoenix for its franchise-record 50th win as DeAndre Jordan had 20 points and 12 rebounds in the Clippers’ 126-101 win over the Suns.
Chris Paul added 14 points and 12 assists, Willie Green and Caron Butler scored 15 points each, and Blake Griffin had nine points, seven assists and five rebounds to help the Clippers end a three-game losing streak.
Wesley Johnson scored 20 points and Jermaine O’Neal added 18 for the last-place Suns.
In Sacramento, California, Chandler Parsons scored 29 points and James Harden added 21 to lead Houston Rockets to a 112-102 win over the Sacramento Kings.
Parsons and Harden, the team’s two leading scorers, returned to the lineup to help the Rockets win their third straight and eighth in 11 games. Parsons, who made 12 of 18 shots, had missed the previous game with food poisoning, while Harden had been nursing a foot injury.
Omer Asik had 19 points and 10 rebounds, while Jeremy Lin had 15 points and 10 assists for Houston, who sit in seventh place in the West.
Tyreke Evans scored 22 points and Marcus Thornton had 21 for the Kings.
The Boston Celtics clinched a playoff berth as Jeff Green scored 34 points, including a three-pointer with 45 seconds to go in a 98-93 win over the Detroit Pistons.
Paul Pierce and Brandon Bass scored 17 points each for the Celtics, who had lost two in a row and seven of their previous nine. However, the victory, coupled with Philadelphia’s 88-83 loss to the Charlotte Bobcats, left Boston eight-and-a-half games ahead of the 76ers with eight to play.
San Antonio’s Danny Green scored 20 points and Gary Neal added 16 to lead the Spurs over the Orlando Magic 98-84, while in Salt Lake City, Danilo Gallinari scored 21 points as the Denver Nuggets downed Utah 113-96.
In other games it was:
‧ Nets 113, Cavaliers 95
‧ Timberwolves 107, Bucks 98
‧ Bobcats 88, 76ers 83
‧ Raptors 88, Wizards 78
‧ Grizzlies 94, Trail Blazers 76
‧ Golden State 98, Hornets 88
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