New York Knicks' point guard Raymond Felton (No. 2) shoots over Miami Heat's center Chris Bosh (No. 1), power forward Rashard Lewis (No. 9) and point guard Norris Cole (No. 30) at Madison Square Garden Thursday. — Reuters NEW YORK — Denver and New York both pulled out wins against the odds Thursday, continuing their recent form improvements at the expense of Oklahoma City and Miami respectively. Denver's Randy Foye scored a season-high 24 points to steer the Nuggets to a 101-88 win over Oklahoma City, which fell into a tie with Portland for leadership of the Northwest Division. It was the second straight game that Foye, who hit six 3-pointers, established a season high, having recorded 23 points against Boston Tuesday. Evan Fournier had 19 points for Denver, which has won four in a row after losing eight straight prior to that. Kevin Durant scored 30 points for the Thunder. New York managed a third-straight win for the first time in a disappointing season, and did it in style by beating Miami 102-92. Carmelo Anthony scored 29 points and Andrea Bargnani had 19 for the Knicks, who seized control with a 16-2 run spanning the third and fourth quarters. New York was second to Miami in the Eastern Conference last season when it won the series 3-1, but there was little reason to suggest the Knicks were ready to compete with the NBA champions this season. LeBron James scored 32 points for the Heat, who played without injured starters Mario Chalmers and Shane Battier and didn't get much from Chris Bosh, who was held to six points on 3-of-10 shooting. Curry passes Paul in voting Golden State guard Stephen Curry moved ahead of Los Angeles Clippers star Chris Paul in NBA All-Star vote totals released Thursday, the final update before balloting closes Jan. 20. Starters will be announced on Jan. 23 for the 63rd NBA All-Star Game, which will be staged February 16 at New Orleans. The NBA announced that LeBron James and Kevin Durant remain the top vote-getters, with Miami star James pacing the Eastern Conference at 1,076,063 and Durant atop the Western Conference with 1,054,209. But the only change in a projected starting spot from December came in the Western Conference backcourt, where Curry had trailed Paul for the last starting berth by 51,949 votes on December 26 but now leads him 677,372 to 651,073. Los Angeles Lakers' star guard Kobe Bryant leads West guard voting with 844,538 while Asian-American star Jeremy Lin of Houston is fourth on the West guard list at 471,980. The West forwards are led by Durant, Houston's Dwight Howard on 509,116 and the Clippers' Blake Griffin on 500,964 with Minnesota's Kevin Love, the NBA's leading rebounder, a close fourth at 483,031. In the East, James sets the pace among forwards with Indiana's Paul George second on 899,671 and New York's Carmelo Anthony third at 702,869. Roy Hibbert of Indiana is a distant fourth at 385,964. Among Eastern guards, Miami's Dwyane Wade leads with 718,109 votes and Australian-American Kyrie Irving is second on 652,522. Injured Chicago star Derrick Rose is third on 323,099. — Agencies
