NBA

Anthony, Stoudemire lead Knicks over Pistons in London

LONDON – It took a trip to London for Carmelo Anthony and Amar’e Stoudemire to bond together on the court.

Anthony and Stoudemire combined for 43 points and Iman Shumpert had a successful debut as the Knicks made their trip across the pond a successful work vacation Thursday in pounding the recently hot Pistons, 102-87 at jam-packed O2 Arena.

“We had great fan support. Our support is global,” coach Mike Woodson said. “It was something about them playing our theme song to start the game that got us going and felt we were playing at home before our fans.”

The Knicks, who moved to 25-13, got 26 points from Anthony, and snapped a three-game shooting slump with a decent 8-of-19 performance that also included shooting 7-of-9 from the free-throw line.

Stoudemire had his season’s best game – still coming off the bench – pouring in 17 points in 19 minutes. He shot 11 of 12 from the free-throw line and made 3 of 5 from the field.

Woodson placed Shumpert in the starting lineup despite not being able to play him more than 15 minutes under doctor’s orders. Returning from ACL surgery, Shumpert hit his first shot of the season – a 3-pointer from the corner. He finished with eight points in 14 minutes and was 3 of 7 from the field.

“It felt good. I put in the work. If my knee fell apart and collapsed it wasn’t meant to be. I was very confident,” Shumpert said.

The Knicks held down the offensively challenged Pistons (14-24), who were led by Will Bynum’s 19 bench points. Detroit had won 7 of their past 10 heading into this trip.

The victory capped a jolly four days as the Knicks players, who brought their wives and girlfriends overseas. The club planned to stay overnight and fly back to JFK Friday.

Commissioner David Stern called the clubs “two historic franchises’’ but really the London faithful came to see the Knicks. Several in the sell-out crowd wore Knicks jerseys and when J.R. Smith checked into the game in the first quarter, there was a big roar despite this being technically a Pistons home game.

In his first game since breaking his 15-day fast, Melo lit up London with 18 points in the first half – as if he was facing Nigeria again in the Summer Olympics here. Anthony said before the game he got re-energized in the past few days, fueling up on British’s delicacies – fish and chips and tea. Anthony also had four assists, passing well out of the Pistons’ second-half double team.

J.R. Smtih added 16 points and Tyson Chandler, also back at the arena where he won an Olympic gold, had 10 points and 14 rebounds.

The Knicks, who got off to a 16-2 start, cooled off in the third. The Pistons cut it to 67-63 on an inside bucket by Greg Monroe with 2:20 left in the third quarter but the Knicks ran off eight straight points to close the period.

Steve Novak started the spree by hitting a long two-point goal from the corrner to make it 69-63 with 1:30 left after Melo passed crosscourt out of a double team.

Stoudemire hit two free throws and J.R. Smith scored on a transition jumper to bring the lead back to 73-63. Anthony snaked through a double-team down the lane for a fingerroll and the Knicks took a 75-63 lead after three periods.

Anthony (18) and Stoudemire (12) combined for 30 first-half points as the Knicks took a 56-41 lead at halftime.

The Knicks broke out with the pace of one of England’s high-speed trains. They made their first six shots and had that 14-point advantage after five minutes. Melo banged in two 3-pointers, Jason Kidd hit a three, Chris Copeland drove to the hole for a bucket and Tyson Chandler laid in a pass from Kidd.

Shumpert, making his season debut and making it in the starting lineup, hit a 3-pointer from the right corner to jack the lead to 18-5.

The Pistons, meanwhile, started the game 0 for 5 and the Knicks had the 29-17 lead after one quarter. The omen was bad for the Pistons from the start, when Stoudemire grabbed the microphone before the game to address the crowd, finishing off with “We love London. Go Knicks.’’ Tayshawn Prince took the mike for the Pistons and the audio went dead.

And so did their offense in the first half as they shot 41.7 percent and didn’t have a double-figure scorer.

Stoudemire had his strongest offensive half of the season. He made two mid-range jumpers, went hard to the hole for a layup and finished with 12 points. He was 3 of 5 from the field and 6 of 6 from the free throw line in the half.

Melo, playing at the power forward, was mostly unstoppable after a three-game shooting funk. Off his fast, he hit 5 of 8 field goals for 18 points. Shumpert played 9 minutes in the first half and was 1 of 4, including a blown driving dunk.