Michael Jordan turned 50 this month and Wednesday night Stephen Curry turned the Garden into his 50-point playground — just like His Airness used to. The difference, however, was Jordan would have willed his team to victory, which Curry could not.
Carmelo Anthony poured in 35 points, Tyson Chandler ripped down a career-high 28 rebounds and Raymond Felton made “The Block Heard ’Round Broadway” on Curry in the late stages as the Knicks gutted out a 109-105 thriller over the Warriors at the electric Garden.
Curry scored his career-high 54 points in large part thanks to 11-of-13 shooting from 3-point range. He was 18-of-28 overall but made two key mistakes in the final two minutes.
“I think it was great for the fans, great for us because we got the win,’’ Chandler said. “He hit a couple of shots and I don’t think he looked at the rim. There’s nothing we could’ve done. We threw a lot of looks at him. We ran everybody at him.’’
It was a historic performance as Curry’s 11 3’s were the most by an opponent versus the Knicks. It was the first 50-point game by an opponent at the Garden since Feb. 4, 2009, when LeBron James, then with Cleveland, poured in 52 points.
The last player to score 50 against the Knicks was Anthony — with Denver in the 2009-10 season. Kobe Bryant’s Garden record of 61 points is still safe, though Curry’s performance fell just a point short of Jordan’s infamous “double nickel” outing.
“I said this guy is not going to single-handedly beat us tonight,’’ Chandler said after the Knicks’ second straight win.
The Knicks (34-20) wanted to draft Curry in 2008. Curry wanted the Knicks to draft him. The Warriors (33-25) selected him one spot before the Knicks, who wound up with long-gone Jordan Hill at No. 8.
“There was a lot of energy in that arena for both teams,’’ Curry said. “When I started putting up some numbers, when I made a couple of shots, you could hear the crowd. I was running off adrenaline.’’
Curry didn’t get the win but showed the Knicks what they’re missing. It was down to the wire — surprising considering the Warriors were missing ex-Knick David Lee because of a suspension from Tuesday’s brawl with the Pacers.
“We were short-handed and needed a performance like that to have a chance,’’ said Warriors coach and former Knick Mark Jackson after his first game as head coach at the Garden. “He put on a clinic.’’
This was a magical show, as Curry made all sorts of shots — some from 30 feet out — pulling up on the fastbreak and skipping in celebration after some of his makes. When he wasn’t hitting 3-pointers, he was driving to the bucket for runners off the glass.
However, Curry made two miscues late that cost the Warriors. With the game tied, Curry drove and got caught in midair, throwing away a cross-court pass that led to an Anthony 3-pointer and 105-103 Knicks’ lead.
It was tied again at 105 when Felton, toasted most of the evening, got the best of Curry. On an isolation play, Curry pulled up from the right side and Felton leapt to block the shot with 1:28 left. J.R. Smith then scored on a 10-foot pullup in the lane to give the Knicks the lead for good at 107-105 with 1:10 left.
“It felt good because it was down the stretch when we really needed it,” Felton said. “He hits that shot and then maybe the game is different.”
“You’d like to have that one back, try to get a shot on the rim at least, but credit to him he played good defense,’’ Curry said.
Anthony, playing with a stomach flu, iced it with a 10-foot fallaway from the right baseline to put the Knicks up 109-105 with 45.6 seconds left. Felton stole the inbounds pass to secure the win.
“Eleven of 13 from 3, it’s remarkable,’’ Anthony said. “There’s nothing you can do. Just hope he misses.”
Curry posted his season high 38 points in Indiana just one night earlier, giving him 92 points in two days.
“He’s beautiful to watch and he has great genes,’’ Knicks coach Mike Woodson said. “His dad [Dell Curry] was a pretty damn good player, too.’’
Curry finished the third quarter with his most dazzling shot, going between the legs at the perimeter, juking a hounding Felton, then hitting a falling-back 3-pointer with Felton in his face. It was Jordan-esque.
“He should’ve been an All-Star with a performance like he had tonight,’’ said Amar’e Stoudemire, who had 14 points on 6-of-7 shooting in 19:32.
Anthony had a season-high eight assists, three of them on feeds to Stoudemire cutting to the rim. Smith pumped in 26 points and Iman Shumpert came off the bench to play dogged defense, finishing with six steals.
In the end, Curry couldn’t do it alone.
“I was really proud the way we defended him in the final few possessions,’’ Chandler said.
marc.berman@nypost.com