NEW YORK -- Now that the distraction surrounding Carmelo Anthony is over, at least for the near future, the New York Knicks can focus on making a run in the Eastern Conference playoff race.

Fresh off their 117-106 win over the Boston Celtics on Wednesday, the Knicks (19-24) are right back at it on Thursday when they host the Washington Wizards.

Derrick Rose matched his season high with 30 points against the Celtics, leading a New York team that was without Kristaps Porzingis, Joakim Noah and Lance Thomas.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Behind a season-high 27 points from Trey Burke off the bench and another double-double from John Wall, the Washington Wizards beat the Brooklyn Nets 118-95 on Friday night to win their third consecutive game and reach .500 for the first time this season.

John Wall scored 25 points, including 11 in the fourth quarter, and the Washington Wizards beat the Brooklyn Nets 118-113 on Monday night.

Bradley Beal and Otto Porter Jr. had 18 points apiece and Markieff Morris added 16 for Washington.

Brook Lopez scored 25 and Sean Kilpatrick had 21 for the Nets.

Washington has had two days to digest its last-second loss to the Spurs and is hoping to get it done Monday night when it visits the Brooklyn Nets.

The Wizards are 6-12 with three losses in their last four games. It is the last two defeats that are especially frustrating.

Last Wednesday against Oklahoma City, the Wizards came back from a 16-point deficit and held a seven-point lead with 5:35 left on a 3-pointer by Bradley Beal. They wound up with a 126-115 overtime loss by going 6-of-19 the rest of the way.

The Knicks (5-6) face off against the Wizards (2-8) in Washington D.C. on Thursday night at 7 p.m. ET.

According to STATS:

• Washington has won nine of 10 meetings with the Knicks since the start of the 2013-14 season. New York had won 12 of the previous 13 matchups in the series.

WASHINGTON -- The Washington Wizards are currently bad at basketball. New York Knicks forward Krystaps Porzingis is soaring.

Porzingis scored a career-high 35 points in New York's 105-102 win over the Detroit Pistons Wednesday night just as Washington suffered a brutal 109-102 loss at the one-win Philadelphia 76ers. The two sides meet Thursday night on the Wizards' homecourt.

Lance Thomas hit two free throws with 0.2 seconds remaining to break a tie and give the New York Knicks a 90-88 win over the Washington Wizards on Monday at Madison Square Garden.

• After Washington's Casper Ware made a driving floating bank jumper to tie the game at 88 with 6 seconds left, Thomas was fouled by Danuel House in the final second to send him to the line. Thomas sunk both free throws and Washington was not able to get a shot off before the buzzer.
• Thomas scored 11 points on 3-of-12 shooting, Carmelo Anthony scored 13 of his 19 points in the first half, and Kristaps Porzingis and Brandon Jennings combined for 26 points and nine rebounds.
• Bradley Beal led the Wizards with 17 points. 
• Derrick Rose (trial) and Joakim Noah (hamstring) did not play.
• Head coach Jeff Hornacek implied Marshall Plumlee would make the active roster after the game. "He and Jennings will compete for fan favorite," Hornacek said.
• The Knicks trailed 53-46 at halftime.

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• It was a very impressive passing performance from Willy Hernangomez, who got his first NBA start in place of the injured Noah. Hernangomez found Porzingis for a nice dunk after a backdoor cut and seemed very comfortable in the starting role. Hernangomez had five turnovers despite his three early assists, but overall seemed comfortable with Porzingis especially passing the basketball.
• Jennings got the crowd going with a third-quarter battle with Ware, a reserve guard. Jennings and Ware got double technicals followed by a 3-pointer by Jennings, resulting in the MSG crowd chanting Jennings' name.
• Noah plans to play Saturday against the Celtics. There is no word on Rose's availability. 
• Despite hitting the winning free throws, Thomas struggled shooting all night and missed his first nine shots.
• Chasson Randle continued to impress the team and has a strong shot of making the team. I've also been pleasantly surprised at how good Ron Baker has been. He's tough, attacks the basket, defends and can make spot 3s. He made one bad mistake in the latter stages of the game. With the Knicks up 86-83, Baker missed a reverse layup on the fast break, and on the ensuing possession, the Wizards converted a three-point play to tie the game.
• Anthony led the Knicks with 19 points on 7-of-11 shooting, and Porzingis added 15 points and six rebounds in a game-high 31 minutes. Beal led the Wizards with 17 and John Wall added nine points and four assists in 15 minutes. 
• The Knicks face the Boston Celtics in the first of back-to-back matchups on Saturday at home.

Keith Schlosser, SNY.TV Twitter | Archive

Ramon Sessions had 21 points and 12 assists, and the Washington Wizards recovered after blowing all of their 20-0 lead to beat the Brooklyn Nets, 120-111 on Monday night.

Marcus Thornton scored 19 points as he and Sessions did just fine in replacing injured starting guards John Wall and Bradley Beal. J.J. Hickson had 15 points as Washington put seven players in double figures.

The Wizards made their first nine shots before Brooklyn made one and looked headed for a blowout victory. Instead, they needed another big run in the fourth quarter to finally put it away.

The New York Knicks face the Washington Wizards on the road Saturday at 7 p.m. ET.

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[sny-box]The Nets let a fourth-quarter lead slip away, as an extended shooting slump over the last six minutes of the game allowed Washington to pull away. Brooklyn's final made field goal of the game came at the 6:22 mark of the fourth quarter.

Winners of three straight games and seven of their last eight, the surging Nets look to continue their recent run of knocking off fellow Eastern Conference playoff contenders, as they continue to jockey for position in a tightly-packed conference.

Nobody is going to catch the top-seeded Pacers or second-seeded Heat, but the three through six seeds are separated by just 3.5 games entering action on Saturday.

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[sny-box]

After struggling at home out of the gate, Brooklyn all of a sudden has won three straight at Barclays Center and has looked like a rejuvenated team since the return of point guard Deron Williams, who has averaged 18.8 points his last four games.

The Nets (9-15) are hoping for the return tonight of Brook Lopez, who has missed the past two games with an ankle injury.

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[sny-box]The Nets played a very solid first half offensively and fed off a monster effort from Brook Lopez with 18 points on 8-for-10 shooting.? The third quarter was once again the Nets nemesis and they lost the lead behind nine turnovers. A solid fourth quarter and a few clutch shots helped Brooklyn force overtime.? The extra period went back and forth with both teams grabbing the lead but Washington outplayed Brooklyn and made their free throws in the final minutes of overtime to notch the win.

The Skinny: The teams traded leads through the first few minutes. Deron Williams hit on a four-point play to give the Nets a one-point lead just after the midway point of the opening quarter. More back-and-forth lead changes ensued until a Bradley Beal bank-shot three-pointer at the buzzer gave the Wizards a one-point lead after one.

Washington raced out to a 19-2 run to open an 18-point lead to start the second quarter. Brook Lopez hit a layup at the 3:30 mark, which was the Nets? first field goal of the quarter after 12 straight misses. The Wizards led by 20 at the break.

Jim Mancari, SNYNets.com

John Wall

Josh Newman, SNYNets.com

Both Blatche and Brooklyn Nets head coach Avery Johnson said the injury was no big deal. Coach Johnson also said he thought that Blatche would be available to practice on Thursday, while Blatche said that he hoped to be back for Wednesday's second practice. Fortunately, the big man was able to return and participate in Wednesday afternoon's practice session, so clearly, the injury isn't very serious. Still, the true test will be to see how it responds tomorrow and Friday.