Derek Fisher’s New York Knicks knew they’d face a massive challenge against four of the Eastern Conference’s top teams to start the season, but rather than shy away from the fight, the Knicks have approached it head on to impressive results.

After spoiling LeBron James’ return to Cleveland Thursday night, D-Fish’s squad turned around and topped the budding Charlotte Hornets at home, 96-93. The season of uncertainty for New York (2-1) has brought some quick development through just three games, and Coach Fish is enjoying the progress and effort of his team on the defensive end.

“It’s a work in progress defensively,” Fish said. “We’re doing some good things for sure, but I think the guys are making a concerted effort on their end. I know they’re tired of hearing us talk more about the defense than the offense, but their effort in doing what we’re asking them to do defensively is really high.”

The Knickerbockers held their second-straight foe under 100 points, but through the drama-filled game, the defense was most impressive in the clutch, where it allowed just 13 points in the final frame and none over the final 2:47.

Although team defense took center stage in the final frame of Sunday’s victory, the highlight of the night came early in the first quarter after Carmelo Anthony made history in becoming the 40th player in NBA history to reach 20,000 career points.

The historic bucket came easy for the Knicks’ superstar, who received the ball beyond the arc from Shane Larkin as the offense transitioned down the court. Melo had a wide open look, and buried it like he has done so many times before.

“It’s a great milestone to reach,” Melo said after his 28 point performance at MSG. “I never thought I would reach 20,000 points, but I used to look at people and say ‘damn, that’s a lot of points’, but I’m glad I can be in the class of a lot of greats and I’ve still got a lot of time in this league.”

The Knicks led 29-21 at the end of the first, and continued to pour it on when they extended to a game-high 15-point lead in the second.

The massive lead came when Iman Shumpert and Melo tag teamed like a dynamic duo playing half court ball at the park. Shump handed the ball off to Melo, who then passed it back to Shump after he circled around to the outside. A quick ball fake back to Melo had Hornet defender Gerald Henderson fooled, and left a wide open lane for the tall haired Shumpert to throw it down.

Shumpert’s one handed jam sent the Garden into a frenzy, and gave the Knicks a lot of momentum going forward. He totaled 15 points, four assists and a steal by the end of the game. Shump was on his game offensively against Charlotte, but it was his defensive play at the end of the game drew praise from his partner in crime.

“That’s what he do man, he makes defensive stops,” Melo said of Shumpert. “He’s one of our key defenders on our team. We look for him to make stops, and we feed of that energy out there. He (also) made a big three for us, that’s Shump.”

The Knicks looked dominant on the night, but took their feet off the gas as the Hornets roared back with a prolific third quarter where they put up 30 points.

Charlotte’s Lance Stephenson, Kemba Walker and Al Jefferson all played big roles for Charlotte, who took the lead in the fourth quarter and began an epic back and forth between the Eastern teams.

The Hornets led by three late in the fourth, but Shumpert stepped up once again to nail a three on a broken play to tie the game at 93-93 with 2:07 remaining in the game. Shump took advantage of the open look, and his quick thinking paid dividends for the Knicks and their first- year head coach.

“Overall our shot selection has been great,” Fish said. “In the preseason guys were trying to figure out where their shots were going to come from, I think a lot of you may remember we were in excess of 20-plus three point attempts, sometimes close to 30. As they’ve gotten a little more comfortable with the offense, you’ve seen those attempts come down to 16, 12, 14. Within the space where we’re shooting quality 3-point attempts, we will shoot for a higher percentage.”

With the score tied in the waning moments of the nail-biter, Melo had the ball and did what he does best: He nailed the go-ahead jumper.

The Knicks had to hold on to their slim lead, and did so when their stingy defense poked the ball away from Charlotte, and took it away. The Hornets had one more chance to tie or take the lead late with 36 seconds on the clock, but Charlotte failed to inbound the ball in the five allotted seconds, and provided the Knicks with another turnover.

As fate would have it, Charlotte had one last chance to get back in the game. Similar to their Saturday night game, the Hornets put the ball in the hands of Walker to take the final shot. New York defenders swarmed the young point guard, and forced an errant shot to seal the narrow victory for the Knicks.

“We gave them their confidence back but we did it,” Anthony said. “It came down to some defensive stops when we needed them, we got buckets when we needed them and most importantly on the defensive end, we did what we needed to do coming down the stretch.”

NEXT UP

The Knicks spent Monday preparing for Tuesday night’s game, where Fish said defense is still the focus going forward to stop a tough Washington attack that features John Wall and Paul Pierce.

“Transition defense is always the key because you have to be able to get back and get set,” Derek said. “Point guards are so good in the league now that you have to get back and present a wall, no pun intended, and make sure they see our jerseys in front of the basket.”

Tipoff starts at 7:30 p.m. EDT at MSG, as Fish and company will look to pick up their third win of the season.

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