NEW YORK – Carmelo Anthony shook off a poor shooting night to make the tiebreaking basket with 2:39 remaining and score 22 points, and the New York Knicks avenged an embarrassing loss to the Charlotte Bobcats with a 91-87 victory on Monday night.

Amare Stoudemire also shot poorly but had 25 points and 12 rebounds, while Tyson Chandler finished with 20 points and 13 boards. Anthony was only 6-for-18 from the field, but scored eight of the Knicks’ final nine points.

Iman Shumpert scored 16 points for the Knicks, who won their third straight since a 118-110 home loss to the Bobcats last Wednesday.

Boris Diaw had 19 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists for the Bobcats, who dropped their third in a row since that victory at Madison Square Garden.

The Knicks defended much better in the rematch but almost wasted it as they struggled to finish around the basket all night. They made just two field goals in the opening nine minutes of the fourth quarter, and D.J. Augustin’s 3-pointer tied it at 82 with 2:57 remaining.

Anthony scored the go-ahead basket with 2:39 to go, then was credited with another field goal on a goaltending call about a minute later. A jumper by Gerald Henderson was followed by a free throw by Anthony and one by Landry Fields to make it 88-84 with 13 seconds remaining.

Augustin’s 3-pointer from the corner cut it to one with 10 seconds to go, but he missed a chance to tie it again after Anthony made two free throws with 8.6 seconds to go.

Henderson scored 14 points and Augustin had 12 points and eight assists for the Bobcats, who opened a stretch of five games in six nights.

The Bobcats’ points and 55 percent shooting were the highest allowed this 
season by the Knicks, who insisted they were committed to playing better defense after acquiring Chandler. But a crowd that was buzzing that night with the returns of Stoudemire and Shumpert from injuries was booing the Knicks by the second half.

“We did play an excellent game, but they’re going to come at us with a vengeance tonight, no question in my mind,” Bobcats coach Paul Silas said before the game, “because I don’t know if they took us for granted or not a little bit, but I know tonight they’re going to really go all out to show us that we don’t belong with them.”

But the Bobcats came out looking capable of a repeat, breaking out to a 10-0 start. The Knicks regrouped to take a 24-21 lead after one quarter, extended it to a nine-point advantage midway through the second, and were up 50-45 at half.

The Knicks finally put a charge into the crowd midway through the third. Shumpert threw down a dunk, but then Chandler bolted into the lane to catch and throw down a lob pass from Anthony. Chandler then made a pair of free throws for the Knicks’ first double-digit lead.