‘Melo drops 37 points as Knicks defeat Raptors

New York, NY, United States (4E Sports) – Carmelo Anthony dropped 37 points and Kenyon Martin racked up 19 points and 11 rebounds and the New York Knicks cruised to a 99-94 win over the Toronto Raptors Friday at Air Canada Center.

The Knicks captured their third straight win behind another productive scoring performance by Anthony and a double-double effort by Martin.

Anthony scored nine of his total points in the fourth quarter while Martin filled in the void left by Tyson Chandler, who’s nursing a bulging disk on his back.

New York controlled play in the first half, taking on a 13-point lead 50-37 at the break. But the Raptors came alive in the second half as they leaned heavily on a hot-shooting Alan Anderson.

Anderson and DeMar DeRozan brought back the Raps within single digit deficit, though the Knicks unleashed their big guns at crunch time.

Anderson finished with 35 points and DeRozan had 18 markers for the Raptors, who fell to 26-42 this season.

The Knicks improved to 41-26 despite playing without their two best big men: Amar’e Stoudemire and Chandler.

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