Carmelo Anthony scored 25 points while J. R. Smith and Raymond Felton added 21 each as the New York Knicks held off the Orlando Magic 99-89 on Tuesday to remain the NBA’s only unbeaten team.
J.J. Redick led Orlando with 18 points, with Arron Afflalo scoring 13 for a Magic team that was stunted by 20 turnovers that led to 24 New York points.
The Magic dropped their fifth consecutive game and continue to struggle without starters Jameer Nelson and Hedo Turkoglu.
New York has won its first five matches for the first time since opening the 1993-94 season with seven victories.
Elsewhere on Tuesday, the Bobcats had a 92-76 win over the Wizards, the Raptors edged the Pacers 74-72 and the Nets beat the Cavaliers 114-101. In the late games, The Spurs edges the Lakers 84-82 and the Trail Blazers had a 103-86 win over the Kings.
Danny Green hit the go-ahead 3-pointer with 9.3 seconds left and Tony Parker scored 19 points for San Antonio to help ensure the Lakers’ lost for the first time since firing coach Mike Brown.
After Pau Gasol missed a 3-pointer, Tiago Splitter’s hustle prevented the Lakers from controlling the rebound before the buzzer sounded on Los Angeles’ first game since hiring Mike D’Antoni late on Sunday. Interim coach Bernie Bickerstaff ran the team for the third straight game.
Tim Duncan had 18 points and 11 rebounds for the Spurs, who improved the Western Conference’s best record to 7-1. Kobe Bryant had 28 points and eight rebounds for the Lakers, who dropped to a win-loss record of 3-5 after committing 17 turnovers on a poor shooting night. Dwight Howard had 13 points and 15 rebounds.
At Charlotte, Ramon Sessions scored 21 points as the Bobcats beat winless Washington to get back-to-back victories for the first time since last December.
Rookie Michael Kidd-Gilchrist chipped in with 15 points and eight rebounds before leaving in the fourth quarter with a sore back.
Trevor Ariza scored 19 points for the Wizards, who fell to 0-6.
At Indianapolis, DeMar DeRozan scored 15 points and Jose Calderon had 13 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists for Toronto.
Toronto led 69-58 heading into the fourth and hit only one field goal the rest of the way, a club low.
George Hill scored 18 points and Paul George had 12 points and nine rebounds to lead the Pacers, who have lost four of the last five.
Brooklyn posted its third consecutive win with Deron Williams contributing 26 points and 10 assists and Joe Johnson scoring 25 points against travel-weary Cleveland.
Brook Lopez added 23 points for the Nets, who opened a 20-point lead at home for the third straight game, but this time barely let up and beat the Cavaliers for the sixth time in eight meetings after losing nine in a row, mostly during the LeBron James era.
Anderson Varejao scored a career-high 35 points and grabbed 18 rebounds for the Cavaliers, who were wrapping up a six-game, coast-to-coast trip and played much of the game with the urgency of a team that wanted to be home.
At Sacramento, Damian Lillard had 22 points and nine assists to help Portland stop a four-game losing streak.
Portland used a strong third quarter to build its lead to 16 points and pushed the cushion to 22 early in the fourth. The Trail Blazers out-rebounded the Kings and connected on 14 of 27 attempts from 3-point range.
LaMarcus Aldridge scored 19 points for Portland and Wesley Matthews had 18.
James Johnson scored 16 for the Kings, who dropped their third straight. They played their second consecutive game without leading scorer and rebounder DeMarcus Cousins, suspended following a verbal altercation last week with San Antonio Spurs television announcer Sean Elliott.
