New York Knicks Carmelo Anthony gets injured when he hits the ground and twists his ankle after driving to the basket in the third quarter against the Los Angeles Lakers at Madison Square Garden in New York Thursday. — UPI NEW YORK — Carmelo Anthony scored 22 of his 30 points in the first quarter, and the New York Knicks held on after he departed with a sprained left ankle to beat the Los Angeles Lakers 116-107 Thursday night in coach Mike D'Antoni's return to Madison Square Garden. Firing in 3-pointers and moving the ball to open shooters, things they often struggled to do under D'Antoni, the Knicks won for the eighth time in nine games and improved to 9-0 at home for the first time since the 1992-93 season. Meanwhile, things are starting as poorly for D'Antoni in Los Angeles as they ended in New York. The Lakers, still without Steve Nash and Pau Gasol, were never really in the game while losing their fourth straight and falling to 9-14. Raymond Felton scored 19 points, and Tyson Chandler and J.R. Smith added 18 apiece for the Knicks. Kobe Bryant had 31 points and 10 rebounds for the Lakers. Metta World Peace finished with 23 points and Dwight Howard had 20. Hawks 113, Bobcats 90: Devin Harris scored 20 points, Josh Smith added 18 and the surging Atlanta Hawks handed Charlotte its 10th straight defeat. The Hawks are 12-3 since losing three of their first five games this season. Atlanta has won two straight and five of six. Gerald Henderson had 17 points and Ramon Sessions 16 for the Bobcats. Lou Williams had eight of his nine assists in the first half for Atlanta. Williams, who finished with 13 points, matched his career high in assists, and Ivan Johnson added a season-high 16 points. Trail Blazers 98, Spurs 90: Rookie guard Damian Lillard had a career-high 29 points and Portland handed San Antonio its second consecutive loss. The Spurs, who have dropped only six games this season, trailed by as many as 12 in the second half but Manu Ginobili's layup cut the deficit to 89-85. J.J. Hickson answered for the Blazers with a running hook that made it 91-85 with 2:36 left. Danny Green hit a 3-pointer to pull the Spurs closer again, but Portland clung to the lead and Nicolas Batum — who has been bothered by a sore back — made a 3 that gave Portland a 96-90 advantage with 1:08 left. Batum hit two free throws with 8 seconds to go for the final margin. It was Lillard's 13th game this season with 20 or more points. LaMarcus Aldridge added 22 points for the Blazers and Hickson finished with 12 points and 12 rebounds. Tony Parker had 21 points for the Spurs, who were coming off a 99-96 loss at Utah on Wednesday night that snapped a five-game winning streak. All-Star voting LeBron James and Kobe Bryant top the first voting results for the 62nd NBA All-Star Game announced Thursday by the league, while Asian-American guard Jeremy Lin trails in his bid for a spot. The showdown of Eastern and Western conference superstars will be staged Feb. 17 at Houston. Miami playmaker James, last season's NBA Most Valuable Player who led the Heat to last season's NBA crown, has the overall lead with 641,348 votes while Los Angeles Lakers guard Bryant paces the Western Conference and ranks second overall at 639,419. New York's Carmelo Anthony, with 573,112 votes, and Boston's Kevin Garnett, with 218,246 votes, joined James as Eastern Conference front-court leaders with Miami's Chris Bosh a distant fourth at 210,724. Miami's Dwyane Wade led the East backcourt with 430,925 votes with Boston's Rajon Rondo in the other guard spot at 382,613. Brooklyn's Deron Williams was a distant third at 211,426. In the West, Bryant was joined among guards by Chris Paul of the Los Angeles Clippers at 353,603 with All-Star Game host Houston's two backcourt standouts, Lin and James Harden, next on the list. Lin was third among guards at 298,319 with Harden at 196,108. Western Conference front-court voting leaders included Oklahoma City's Kevin Durant at 605,965, Lakers' big man Dwight Howard at 434,168 and Blake Griffin of the Clippers at 307,855. San Antonio's Tim Duncan was fourth at 189,577 with Spanish star Pau Gasol of the Lakers next at 139,868. Voting ends Jan. 14 and the NBA All-Star starters will be announced three days later. — Agencies
