NEW YORK — Carmelo Anthony scored 25 points and the New York Knicks salvaged the finale of a tumultuous five-game homestand by beating the San Antonio Spurs 94-90 on Sunday.

With Latrell Sprewell and a number of other former Knicks in attendance two days after Charles Oakley was banned, the current team pulled out a defensive performance from its past, limiting the Spurs to 36 percent shooting.

That came just two nights after the Knicks yielded 131 points in a dismal defensive performance against Denver, which came after losses to Cleveland and both Los Angeles teams to start the homestand.

Kawhi Leonard had 36 points for the Spurs (41-13), who had their two-game winning streak snapped and failed in their first attempt to secure what would have been an NBA-record 20th consecutive winning season.

The Knicks didn’t let the Spurs reach 70 points until fewer than 8 minutes remained. Then Anthony provided offense when they needed it – clinging to a two-point lead – by making consecutive baskets to make it 92-86 with 33 seconds remaining.

Anthony’s relationship with Phil Jackson and resulting trade rumors were a constant throughout the homestand, though the fallout from Oakley’s arrest after an altercation with security guards last Wednesday became the bigger story.

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Those overshadowed the losing streak that sent the Knicks tumbling to 12th place in the Eastern Conference.

PISTONS 102, RAPTORS 101: Tobias Harris had 24 points off the bench, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope added 21, including a go-ahead 3-pointer with 13.2 seconds left and Detroit overcame a 16-point fourth-quarter deficit at Toronto.

Andre Drummond had 10 points and 18 rebounds for his 36th double-double of the season as the Pistons snapped a four-game skid in Toronto.

DeMar DeRozan scored 26 points for Toronto and Jonas Valanciunas had 17 points and nine rebounds, but it wasn’t enough to keep the Raptors from losing for the 10th time in their last 14 games.

Trailing 88-73 following Terrence Ross’ 3-pointer with 9:23 to play, the Pistons went on a 9-0 run to cut the deficit to six with 7:19 remaining.

Caldwell-Pope made it a two-point game with a pull-up jumper with 47.9 seconds remaining, and then put the Pistons in front 102-101 with his 3-pointer.

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TIMBERWOLVES 117, BULLS 89: Andrew Wiggins scored 27 points and Karl-Anthony Towns added 22 to help Minnesota beat the severely short-handed Bulls at Minneapolis.

Ricky Rubio had 17 points, 11 assists and six rebounds and Minnesota shot 54 percent to help Coach Tom Thibodeau sweep the season series against his former team. Gorgui Dieng added 10 points and 13 rebounds.

Doug McDermott scored 16 points and made four 3-pointers for the Bulls, who were missing Jimmy Butler, Dwyane Wade, Nikola Mirotic and Paul Zipser with injuries. The Bulls turned the ball over 18 times and were outrebounded 46-35.

NOTES

CAVALIERS: Forward Kevin Love’s sore left knee will sideline him for at least one game and could keep him out of the All-Star game.

Love complained of soreness in his knee following Saturday’s win over Denver. He underwent an MRI on Sunday, and while the Cavs did not reveal results of the tests, they said Love will miss Tuesday’s game at Minnesota – his former team.


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