New York: New York Knicks put an end to their six-game losing streak, routing Portland Trail Blazers 121-79 in the National Basketball Association (NBA), just hours after their head coach Mike D'Antoni decided to resign after three lacklustre seasons here.

Amare Stoudemire made all seven shots in the first half, Carmelo Anthony, who denied wanting a trade or having friction with D'Antoni earlier Wednesday, passed and shot well, collecting 16 points and tied a season high with seven assists.

Stoudemire finished with 17 points and Jeremy Lin scored six and dished out six assists before all three sat out of the fourth quarter while the Knicks rang up their highest point total of the season.

J.R. Smith and Steve Novak made 15 three pointers combined, piling up 43 points together. But the points mainly came after Knicks already gained a huge lead.

The Knicks pressed hard on the Trail Blazers from the start, allowing only 29 points in the first half, forcing the visitors to commit 17 first-half turnovers and registered only five assists.

The Knicks had dropped into a tie for eighth place in the Eastern Conference of the NBA before breaking out with the kind of effort that was expected from a team that D'Antoni said was good enough to contend for a championship.

D'Antoni decided to step down Wednesday, shocking his bosses and players. Mike Woodson, who had coached the Atlanta Hawks before joining the Knicks' coaching staff last summer, took the job as the interim coach for the remainder of the season, but Madison Square Garden chairman James Dolan made it clear that he would be re-evaluated after the season.

"I've got to get practice under my belt to be able to add some things as we move forward," Woodson was quoted as saying by Xinhua. "I told everybody to take a deep breath and relax, all's not bad."

IANS