OKLAHOMA CITY — This was the type of afternoon Carmelo Anthony may have nightmares about, with Kevin Durant starring in them.
Maybe Sunday’s 112-100 loss to powerhouse Oklahoma City didn’t prove to be the final nail in Mike Woodson’s coffin, but it did prove the great Durant is playing on a different stratosphere than Anthony.
The final score wasn’t nearly as lopsided as the matchup between Durant and Melo. The battle of the NBA’s top two scorers was a disaster for Anthony.
In nearly posting a triple-double, Durant outscored Anthony, 41-15, as he continued his MVP-type season in overwhelming the Knicks at Chesapeake Energy Arena. Durant’s 41 came on 12-for-22 shooting, including 4-for-7 from the 3-point line. He added 10 rebounds, nine assists and solid defense on Anthony.
“Something I knew he can do,’’ Anthony said. “He makes it look easy. When you get it going like that, it’s hard to stop it.’’
Durant was virtually unguardable. The usually potent Anthony struggled all game and shot just 5 of 19 from the field.
Melo was rattled from the get-go when two minutes into the contest, he pump-faked, dribbled in the lane and had his shot swatted emphatically by Durant.
“In order for us to be a good team, I have to be a two-way player,’’ Durant said. “I’ve realized that these past few years.’’
Melo said it was more than Durant keeping him down.
“They just loaded up every time I caught it,’’ Anthony said. “It was two guys, three guys. They made it tough. When I did a have a chance to knock down some shots, they didn’t go down.’’
The final indignity came with 2:30 left when Anthony got crunched on a screen by beefy center Kendrick Perkins and looked shaken up as the crowd roared in delight.
“I didn’t know it was coming,’’ Anthony said. “It was a great pick.’’
It was a symbolic moment on an afternoon gone awry after a good start.
The Knicks (20-31) have one game left before the All-Star break, playing host to Sacramento on Wednesday, and a confident Woodson said he “absolutely’’ thinks he’ll be coaching the team when play resumes in Memphis on Feb. 18.
Anthony skipped the Christmas Day game against OKC with a sprained ankle. He may have wanted to skip this one, too.
Melo was 1 of 6 after one quarter, 3 of 9 at halftime and 5 of 16 after three quarters. Then he scored just one point in the final period. In their previous loss Wednesday to Portland, Anthony was held scoreless in the fourth quarter.
“I wasn’t able to score throughout the whole game — it was a lot different than Portland,’’ Anthony said. “Today I was trying to find out different ways to deal with it, seeing two, three guys every time. It’s tough to do. KD was telling me before the game the object was not to let me touch it, not to let me sniff it. It worked.’’
“They made shots. I didn’t give anything on the offensive end. I’ll take the blame on that. They did a great job of loading up.’’
Anthony missed two 3-pointers on one possession in the third quarter, missing the rim entirely on the second launch.
He shook his head in disgust.
The Knicks were within six points early in the fourth quarter but couldn’t keep pace and their rotating defensive schemes were exposed — not good for Woodson’s cause.
On a couple of possessions in the first quarter, Durant soared in on transitions and Knicks players stepped out of the way and allowed him to dunk.
“Early in the game, the object is take away layups,’’ Anthony said. “No easy baskets. You try to make it as hard as possible. We know he’s going to score points but times we have a chance to stop it, you got to stop it. Early in the game, we didn’t do that.’’
Despite trailing just 58-53 at halftime, the Knicks had no answer for Durant, who racked up 19 points in the first half against the Knicks’ small-ball lineup that had Iman Shumpert and J.R. Smith alternating on him. Anthony tried it in the fourth quarter.
The Knicks were unable to stop Durant from penetrating and he was able to score on runners, dunks or dish to open shooters all afternoon.
“It was tough to get him in positions where we could double him,’’ Woodson said. “He’s a willing passer now and he’s finding people all over the place.’’
Durant played a deadly pick-and-roll game with Serge Ibaka, who finished with 16 points on 8 of 11 shooting — mostly off dishes from Durant.
“He’s a tough cover, great scorer, makes good decisions with the ball,” Shumpert said. “You just got to be there to make tough shots. He made tough shots today.’’