Joakim Noah was back for the Knicks — well, at least for three quarters.

After missing two games with an illness, Noah returned and started at center in the Knicks’ 113-111 overtime victory over the Hornets on Friday night at the Garden.

Noah played 18 minutes, none in the fourth quarter or overtime, and scored six points and grabbed eight rebounds. Coach Jeff Hornacek, who said he was concerned about a guy returning after an illness, praised Noah, saying he did well, but obviously was not 100 percent.

“Felt pretty good. I feel like it’s solid, coming off of being sick like that, just coming out and playing, it felt good,” said Noah who described his illness as being “sick, fever. I had the flu.”

And this was really not the way to recuperate.

“It’s tough when you’re sick and then you have to go and play a basketball game after it,” Noah said. “It’s no joke.”

Justin Holiday slammed his right shoulder fighting through a first half screen. He went for X-rays, which were negative.

“Probably just bruised,” said Holiday who played 16 minutes, scored nine points and claimed he will be fine for Saturday’s rematch in Charlotte. “Just a little sore.”

The Hornets could be without Marvin Williams, who hyperextended his knee. He played 16:43, scored nine points.

Derrick Rose may have coaxed a Thanksgiving invitation to Carmelo Anthony’s house, but he did not arrive for dinner empty handed.

“It went great, had a great time, chilled, food was great,” said Rose, who brought “like five or six bottles of wine. [It was] more for his wife than anything or anybody. I look out for the women, man. That’s my job.”

And it was a rather impressive gathering as it also included Dwyane Wade, like Rose a Chicago product. Enemies on the court, they were pals at the dinner table.

“Being social, talking about the season, talking about just everything. There was a lot of kids, his family was over there, so we were just chopping it up, talking to one another,” Rose said.

Courtney Lee left the Hornets after a successful 28-game run last season. The Hornets would have liked to have kept him, but free-agent dollars only go so far.

“Our problem, frankly, was we had six free agents and they all played well,” said Hornets coach Steve Clifford, who noted a lot of money went the first two free agent days on Nicolas Batum and Williams. “We had really enough for two and then you look at it, Al [Jefferson], Jeremy [Lin] and Courtney all made a lot more money. We couldn’t have gotten any of those guys. And then we lost Troy Daniels, too.

“He played great for us,” Clifford said of Lee. “He’s the ultimate dependable pro, intelligent player. He makes your team execute on every possession offense and defense the whole game. You’ll see his value as the games become more and more important, you’ll like him more and more.”

Lee signed with the Knicks for four years and $50 million.

The last time the Knicks, now 8-7, were over .500 was just over a year ago when they fell to 8-7 also after losing to Miami on Nov. 23.

Obviously, the last time they were two games over .500 was the previous game, at 8-6, when they won at Houston Nov. 21. Losing 28 of their last 38 games and finishing 32-50 in 2015-16 sort of dimmed the whole two games above par thing.

The Knicks now are 7-3 when scoring 100 points.

Kemba Walker on his last-second 3-point attempt in overtime, which was blocked by Rose: “I rushed it. I could have gotten a better shot. I should have taken my time more; they made a great defensive play.”