P - LeBron James, frustrated at himself and his Miami Heat teammates after being routed by Oklahoma City, took it out on the New York Knicks in a 106-91 triumph on Saturday.
James, a four-time NBA Most Valuable Player, scored 30 points, grabbed eight rebounds and passed out seven assists to beat a Knicks team that had won four of its prior five games against Miami.
"I didn't like our performance in the second half against Oklahoma City and I took it upon myself to hold myself and the team accountable," James said.
"Tonight we got stops, we forced turnovers and got rebounds. We executed and when we do that we're a pretty good team."
The reigning NBA champion Heat were humbled 112-95 at home Wednesday by Oklahoma City, which has the NBA's best record.
Carmelo Anthony, who led New York with 26 points, resorted to tackling James at one point in the third quarter to deny him a fast break basket, causing James to land on his left shoulder, which had an ice pack after the game.
"That's not the first time I've been tackled," James said. "It's not really a basketball play but he saw me with a full head of steam. He tried to wrap me up. He didn't intend for me to fall."
James' mood would have lifted further when he heard of that the Thunder had a 10-game win streak snapped by Washington.
John Wall scored 15 of his 17 points in the second half and had 15 assists and six steals as the Washington Wizards took advantage of a rare off-game from hometown star Kevin Durant in a 96-81 win.
In San Antonio, Boomers guard Patty Mills took advantage of his additional minutes to post 15 points as the Spurs ended a three-game slide by rallying past Sacramento 95-93.
Mills, who played nearly 22 minutes as coach Gregg Popovich deals with a roster missing guards Manu Ginobili, Danny Green and Kahwi Leonard, also had two steals as ageless centre Tim Duncan put up 23 points and 17 rebounds.
Elsewhere, Paul George and Roy Hibbert had 20 points apiece as Indiana overcame an early deficit to beat Brooklyn 97-96 and improve their league-best home record to 22-2.
Joe Johnson, an All-Star selection, spent much of the night duelling with Lance Stephenson, a notable All-Star omission.
In Houston, the Rockets' James Harden returned from injury to score 28 points and Jeremy Lin had his first career triple-double to lead a comfortable 106-92 win over Cleveland.
In other matches, Detroit, Minnesota, New Orleans, Memphis and Phoenix enjoyed wins, while the Los Angeles Clippers down Utah 102-87 and Portland overcame Toronto 106-103 in the late games.
