Carmelo Anthony was burdened with foul trouble, turnover trouble, shot-making trouble and, most likely, achy body trouble, although that was the one difficulty that was neither listed nor confessed on an anxious Monday night at Madison Square Garden. Whatever the issue, and there were many, Anthony muddled his way through and pulled the Knicks to a satisfying, if unaesthetic, 91-87 victory over the Charlotte Bobcats. The Knicks' offense sputtered in the second half, as the Bobcats erased an 11-point deficit and sent tremors through the Garden. But Anthony shook off the five fouls, the six turnovers and the poor shooting (6 for 18) and scored 8 of his team's last 9 points to deliver the victory, the Knicks' third in a row. At 5-4, they are over .500 for the first time since winning their opener. “It was just a will to win out there tonight,” said Anthony, who finished with 22 points and 6 assists despite his struggles. Tyson Chandler led the defensive stand, collecting 3 steals and 3 blocks in addition to 20 points and 13 rebounds. Amar'e Stoudemire (25 points) and Iman Shumpert (16 points) helped anchor the offense. Boris Diaw had a team-high 19 points and 10 rebounds for the Bobcats. Hornets 94, Nuggets 81: Carl Landry scored 21 points for visiting New Orleans. The Hornets led by 8 at halftime and increased it to 15 on a layup by Chris Kaman early in the third. The Nuggets lost at home for the first time in five games. Bulls 92, Pistons 68: Carlos Boozer scored 23 points and host Chicago beat Detroit for the 13th time in a row. Derrick Rose added 22 points and 8 assists for the Bulls, who are 4-1 in a stretch of nine games in 12 days — including Tuesday and Wednesday nights. The Pistons have lost four in a row. Raptors 97, Timberwolves 87: Andrea Bargnani matched his season high with 31 points and Amir Johnson set a season high with 19 for host Toronto. Jose Barea scored a season-high 16 points and Kevin Love had 13 points and 14 rebounds for Minnesota, which has not won in Toronto since 2004. Hawks 106, Nets 101: Josh Smith scored a season-high 26 points, and visiting Atlanta shot nearly 54 percent as it beat the Nets for the third time this season. The Hawks led for all but a few seconds and have won three in a row. Anthony Morrow had 20 points for the Nets, who have lost eight of nine. 76ers 96, Pacers 86: Andre Iguodala scored 20 points as host Philadelphia won its fifth in a row in an NBA matchup of Eastern Conference contenders. A 15-3 run in the third quarter helped the 76ers pull away. Louis Williams came off the 76ers bench to add 13 points and six assists and while Thaddeus Young and Spencer Hawes each contributed 12 points and eight rebounds for Philadelphia. Roy Hibbert scored 19 points and grabbed eight rebounds while David West scored 15 points and pulled down 11 rebounds for the Pacers.
