In brief: Anthony scores 27 in N.Y. debut

NBA: Carmelo Anthony had 27 points and 10 rebounds, hitting a pair of clutch buckets down the stretch as the New York Knicks beat the visiting Milwaukee Bucks 114-108 on Wednesday night in his Knicks debut.

Anthony made only 10 of 25 shots but was at his best in the closing minutes, helping New York hold on after fellow superstar Amare Stoudemire fouled out.

Chauncey Billups, who came with Anthony from Denver in Tuesday’s blockbuster trade, finished with 21 points and eight assists as the Knicks won their third straight.

• Lakers ends Portland’s streak: Kobe Bryant had 37 points and the Los Angeles Lakers overcame a 10-point deficit late in the fourth quarter to beat host Portland 106-101 in overtime, snapping the Trail Blazers’ season-best, six-game winning streak.

Trail Blazers guard Brandon Roy returned from injury. The three-time All-Star had not played since Dec. 15 because of soreness in both knees. He underwent arthroscopic surgery on Jan. 17. He scored five points in 16 minutes.

• Spurs hold off Thunder: Tony Parker scored the last of his 20 points on a 16-footer with 26.1 seconds left to help the San Antonio Spurs (47-10) hold off the visiting Oklahoma City Thunder 109-105.

• Hot Pacers win on dunk: Brandon Rush’s dunk with 5.4 seconds remaining gave the surging Indiana Pacers a 102-101 victory over the Detroit Pistons at Indianapolis.

Indiana won for the ninth time in 12 games since interim coach Frank Vogel took over for Jim O’Brien in late January.

• Hawks acquire Hinrich: The Atlanta Hawks acquired guard Kirk Hinrich from Washington in a five-player trade, upgrading their backcourt for the playoff run.

The Hawks also received forward Hilton Armstrong in exchange for guard Mike Bibby, rookie guard Jordan Crawford, swingman Maurice Evans and a first-round pick in this year’s draft.

• Nets, Warriors complete trade: The Nets and Warriors made a trade that sends Brandan Wright and Dan Gadzuric to New Jersey for Troy Murphy and a 2012 second-round pick.

Irish overcome Brooks’ 52 points

Men’s basketball: Ben Hansbrough scored a career-high 32 points and Tim Abromaitis had a season-high 28 to lead No. 9 Notre Dame (22-5, 11-4 Big East) to a 94-93 win over struggling Providence (14-14, 3-12) at Providence, R.I., despite a Big East-record 52 points by Marshon Brooks.

• Singler leads No. 1 Duke: Kyle Singler ended a slump by scoring 28 points to lead No. 1 Duke (26-2) past No. 24 Temple (26-2) 78-61 in noncon- ference play at Durham, N.C.

• Banked 3-pointer beats Michigan: Josh Gasser banked in a desperation 3-pointer at the buzzer to give No. 12 Wisconsin (21-6, 11-4 Big Ten) a 53-52 win over Michigan (17-12, 7-9) at Ann Arbor, Mich.

Woods loses opener during match play

Golf: The slow road back for Tiger Woods took another detour when he followed a clutch birdie with a shocking shot into the desert and lost to Thomas Bjorn in the first round of the Match Play Championship at Marana, Ariz.

Moments after he made an 8-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole to extend the match, he hit a 3-wood so far to the right that it landed in a desert bush. It took two shots just to get it back onto the grass. After badly missing an 18-foot bogey putt, he conceded to Bjorn.

Top-ranked Lee Westwood never trailed in his 3-and-2 win over Henrik Stenson.

NCAA cites Pearl, Kiffin for violations

Miscellany: The NCAA says Tennessee basketball coach Bruce Pearl and former football coach Lane Kiffin committed recruiting violations and failed to promote an atmosphere of compliance of NCAA rules within their programs.

Following its 22-month investigation of the athletic program, the NCAA notified Tennessee of a dozen rules violations by the coaches, their assistants and the university.

• MLS playoff field expands: The top three teams in each of Major League Soccer’s two conference will be joined in the playoffs this fall by the next four teams with the highest point totals. The playoffs expand by two teams this year to 10.