New York, NY (My Sportsbook) - Carmelo Anthony scored 23 points and the New York Knicks put together a big second half to record a 100-83 victory over the San Antonio Spurs in a battle of division leaders from Madison Square Garden.

J.R. Smith netted 15 of his 20 points after halftime, and the Knicks outscored San Antonio by a 44-31 margin over the final 17 minutes to avoid their first three-game losing streak of the season.

Steve Novak knocked down 5-of-7 shots from three-point range to help New York prevail, while Tyson Chandler contributed 10 points and 14 rebounds to the triumph.

The Knicks also held San Antonio to a 36.4 success rate from the floor in putting an end to the Spurs' season-high seven-game win streak.

Gary Neal paced San Antonio with 12 points, with Tony Parker and Tim Duncan each finishing with 11.

Clinging to a 56-52 edge with five minutes remaining in the third quarter, the Knicks caught fire near the end of the period before dominating the fourth.

New York began to pull away with a short 10-3 spurt, with Amar'e Stoudemire following an Anthony slam with an inside layup that staked the Knicks to a 66-55 lead with 2:31 to go in the frame.

The Spurs countered with five straight points and closed within 66-60 on a Danny Green trey with 29 seconds left in the third quarter, but New York then embarked on a 16-2 run to put the contest out of reach.

Novak buried a pair of key triples during the burst, the last of which put the Knicks on top by an 80-60 count with 9:32 to go.

Both teams trotted out their reserves soon afterward, with New York building a cushion as high as 25 points and the Spurs never getting closer than the final score.

New York, which shot 44 percent (12-of-27) from beyond the arc for the night, made 4-of-7 long-distance attempts en route to a 22-19 lead after one quarter, then opened the second with an 8-2 flurry capped by a Chris Copeland trey that extended the differential to nine points.

The Knicks were ahead 40-32 with five minutes remaining in the half, but San Antonio closed the stanza out with an 8-2 burst and trimmed the deficit to 42-40 on Duncan's jumper with 6.8 seconds on the clock.

The game remained tight until New York took over down the stretch, with the Knicks maintaining a lead between two and six points during the first six minutes of the second half.

Game Notes

Stoudemire finished with 10 points on 4-of-10 shooting over 21 minutes in his second game since returning from left knee surgery performed on Oct. 31 ... Spurs forward Stephen Jackson injured his right ankle after crashing into a waitress stationed courtside late in the first quarter and did not return ... The Knicks, who posted a 104-100 win in San Antonio on Nov. 15, swept their home-and-home series with the Spurs for the first time since 2002-03 ... Smith has now registered five consecutive outings of 20 or more points off the bench ... The Spurs shot 47.5 percent from 3-point range during their seven-game win streak, but hit on only 9-of-34 tries from long distance in this one ... New York improved to 17-2 this season when holding the opposition under 100 points.