Carmelo Anthony carried the offensive load for the New York Knicks and Jason Kidd walked away the hero.
Anthony poured in a season-high 45 points, Kidd knocked down the tie-breaking three - his sixth of the game - with 24 seconds left, and the visiting Knicks rallied from 17 down on Tuesday night for a dramatic 100-97 victory over the Brooklyn Nets.
Kidd netted 18 points against his former club, while JR Smith added 16 for the Eastern Conference-leading Knicks (16-5), who have split the first two meetings in the battle of the New York boroughs.
The lethargic Knicks quickly fell into a hole but dug themselves out behind Anthony’s offensive explosion.
Elsewhere, Kyrie Irving collected 28 with 11 assists after missing 11 games with a fractured finger on his left hand, CJ Miles also netted 28 and the lowly Cleveland Cavaliers (5-17) held off the struggling Los Angeles Lakers 100-94 to snap a five-game slide.
Los Angeles Clippers stretched their winning streak to seven - the club’s longest since the 1991-92 season - after beating the host Chicago Bulls 94-89 and Denver Nuggets downed the Detroit Pistons 101-94.
Jordan Crawford scored 26 points and the league-worst Washington Wizards (3-15) rallied from 11 down in the third quarter to beat the New Orleans Hornets 77-70 for their first road victory of the season after opening 0-8.DPA
