Carmelo Anthony returned from a two-game injury absence to score 25 points to lead the New York Knicks to a 113-86 NBA victory over Detroit.

Anthony, who had been sidelined by a sprained right ankle as well as injuries to his left wrist and right thumb, appeared energised after five days of rest.

He enjoyed his best shooting night of the lockout-shortened season, making 9-of-14 shots from the field and lead all scorers in the contest.

The Knicks halted a three game losing streak with Landry Fields netting 18 points, Tyson Chandler 17 points while Amar’e Stoudemire finished with 15 for the Knicks (8-13).

Jonas Jerebko scored 15 points while Greg Monroe had 13 with 12 rebounds for the downward-spiralling Pistons (4-19), who have dropped six straight games and 10 of 11.

Anthony admitted that the Knicks’ recent struggles had prompted him to come back as quickly as he could, despite the painful ankle injury.

“If we were winning, I would try to take my time, but right now, I want to try to push it and see what we can do,” Anthony said.

“I think these four, five days I had off helped me out a lot. My thumb, my wrist calmed down. My ankle is worse than I thought it was and playing for that week on it didn’t help at all.”

In other action, Paul Pierce scored 20 points while Kevin Garnett knocked down a key jumper with just over a minute remaining, and the Boston Celtics escaped the visiting Cleveland Cavaliers 93-90 after nearly blowing a 22-point cushion, for their fifth win in six games.

Rookie Kyrie Irving scored 21 points while Anderson Varejao finished with 20 points and 20 rebounds for Cleveland, which took Sunday’s opener of the home-and-home series.

Also on Sunday, the Indiana Pacers clipped the visiting New Jersey Nets for the ninth straight time 106-99; the visiting Atlanta Hawks routed the Toronto Raptors 100-77; the LA Lakers blew out the visiting Charlotte Bobcats 106-73; and the Golden State Warriors edged the visiting Sacramento Kings 93-90.