Carmelo Anthony took centre stage as the New York Knicks finally entered double figures for wins with a comfortable 94-80 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers at Madison Square Garden.
The Knicks have endured a desperately disappointing season in Derek Fisher's first campaign in charge, leading to fans airing their displeasure at the start of this month.
However, there have slowly been signs of improvement at MSG and victory over the Lakers represents a fifth win in seven NBA outings and takes the Knicks to a 10-38 record and off the foot of the Eastern Conference standings.
Not for the first time it was small forward Anthony who galvanised the Knicks and he finished the contest with 31 points and eight rebounds in a dominant showing.
The majority of the damage came in a superb first quarter in which the Knicks outscored the struggling Lakers 32-19.
The visitors trimmed the deficit by five points in the second, but ahead of the third the Lakers trailed by 15 points.
A brief late rally aside, the Lakers never looked like pulling off an unlikely comeback and they now slip to a 13-35 record in the West in an increasingly frustrating season.
Earlier on Sunday, the Miami quickly snapped a two-match losing streak to win 83-75 at the Boston Celtics.
The Heat were without injured stars Dwyane Wade (hamstring) and Luol Deng (calf), but Hassan Whiteside stepped up to the mark with 20 points - with half of those coming in a fruitful period in the third and fourth quarters.
Chris Bosh and Tyler Johnson added 18 and 13 points respectively, as the 2014 NBA runners-up improved to 21-16 in the East.