Knicks pound Pistons, spoil Calderon’s Detroit debut

LOS ANGELES (dpa) – Carmelo Anthony scored 27 points, Tyson Chandler matched a franchise-record with his third straight 20-plus rebound game, and the New York Knicks beat the visiting Detroit Pistons 99-85 on Monday night to complete a 5-0 home-stand.

Chandler grabbed 20 rebounds and became the first player to accomplish the back-to-back-to-back board feat since Hall of Famer Willis Reed turned the trick in the Knicks’ 1969-70 championship season.

Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony goes up for a layup in front of Pistons centre Greg Monroe. AP

Amar’e Stoudemire netted 20 points for the Knicks, who knocked down 14-of-34 threes in the wire-to-wire win, while improving to 3-0 against the Pistons this season.

Jose Calderon had a team-high 15 points with three assists in his Detroit debut but the Pistons (18-31), lost for sixth time in their last eight outings.

Calderon was acquired from Toronto as part of a three-team trade last Wednesday that had Detroit sending Tayshaun Prince to Memphis in exchange for Rudy Gay. But the Spanish point guard was forced to miss the first two games over the weekend because of visa problems.

Elsewhere: LeBron James scored 31 points, Chris Bosh added 23 while Dwyane Wade had 20 with 12 rebounds and the Miami Heat beat the visiting Charlotte Bobcats for the 10 consecutive time, 99-94.

Ramon Sessions scored 18 points for Charlotte, which lost 12th of its last 14 games.

- David West scored 29 points, Paul George added 21, including a huge triple with 78 seconds remaining, and the Indiana Pacers ran their home-winning streak to 14, with a 111-101 win over short-handed Chicago Bulls to gain a share of the Central Division lead.

Italy’s Marco Belinelli netted a season-high 24 points, Nate Robinson had 19 for the Bulls, who played again without injured starters Kirk Hinrich and centre Joakim Noah.

- Martell Webster scored 21 points and the lowly Washington Wizards stopped a four-game slide with a 98-90 victory over the visiting Los Angeles Clippers, who were without their injured All-Stars Blake Griffin and Chris Paul.

Jamal Crawford scored 28 points, while DeAndre Jordan took down a career-high 22 rebounds for the Clippers, who have lost seven of their last nine decisions.

- LaMarcus Aldridge had 25 points with 13 rebounds, Wes Matthews scored 22 and the visiting Portland Trail Blazers escaped the Minnesota Timberwolves 100-98, when Dante Cunningham missed the potential game-tying jumper at the buzzer.