NBA

Carmelo: Knicks eye ‘payback’ vs. Wizards

Washington Wizards point guard John Wall scored 21 points against the Knicks when they last met three weeks ago. (UPI)

WASHINGTON — Beware of the Ides of March and the treacherous month starts tonight for the Knicks with John Wall.

Wall, the dazzling point guard selected No. 1 in the 2011 draft, didn’t beat up the Knicks like Stephen Curry did Wednesday, but he did severe damage last month and got the win.

With Wall scoring 21 points and getting nine assists, the Wizards knocked off the Knicks, 106-96, three weeks ago. Time for the rematch and the Knicks are not looking past tonight at a soldout Verizon Center, with Sunday’s gargantuan showdown against Miami at the Garden looming.

“I’m not thinking about Miami — there’s just one game on our minds, the Wizards,’’ Carmelo Anthony said. “That last time down there, we felt we should’ve won. So it’s a payback game.’’

The Knicks, who have won two straight including surviving Curry’s 54-point explosion Wednesday versus Golden State, have long talked about their ferocious March schedule — 18 games, 10 on the road. They already have fallen to the third seed and are 6 1/2 games behind Miami.

The March Madness includes a dangerous five-game West Coast trip. That is why coach Mike Woodson has told his club to clean up now — with their first three road contests of March against losing teams in Washington (18-38), Cleveland (20-38) and Detroit (23-37).

“I think we’re getting after things defensively,’’ Tyson Chandler said. “In practice we have time to make some adjustments. We have an opportunity. We’re going down to D.C. to get a win and then we’ve got a couple of big ones ahead of us. We have to go into this focused before we head out West.’’

Before their two-game winning streak, the Knicks had lost four straight and were on a 1-5 stretch that began in Washington on Feb. 6. For several weeks, the Knicks have struggled defending quick point guards and there’s none quicker than Wall.

“He didn’t do us like that [Stephen],’’ Knicks starting point guard Raymond Felton said. “But John is fast and we just have to try to do a better job of keeping in front of him. If we have to trap him and get the ball out of his hands, we will.’’

Chandler fumed after that last meeting, seemingly questioning why there were no defensive adjustments made with Wall burning them. Nevertheless, Chandler clarified his remark. It wasn’t the coaches he was after. It was his mates not following the initial game plan on defending Wall on the pick-and-roll.

“No, no, I said that coach gives us a plan, we’ve got to execute and then if we execute and it doesn’t work we’ve got to make the proper adjustments,’’ Chandler said. “But we’ve got to give our game plan a chance. So hopefully with the way we’ve been practicing of late, coach gives us a game plan, we have a lot more focus.’’

The Knicks haven’t been a good perimeter defensive club since mid-December. Felton has fallen off — despite his big block on Curry in the final two minutes that sealed the win. Jason Kidd’s age is creeping up on and he has an ailing back. Third-string point guard Pablo Prigioni is playing through back spasms.

The hope is Iman Shumpert, after his career-high six steals against Golden State, is on his way back to being a consistent lockdown defender. The real defensive value of Shumpert, who may get Wall tonight, usually doesn’t show up in the boxscore.

“He’s big time,’’ Chandler said of Wall. “He picks the tempo up for them. He’s a one-man fast break.’’

The Knicks starting backcourt, meanwhile, is struggling to score. Shumpert and Kidd combined for two points on Wednesday on 1 of 10 shooting, and that’s not uncommon. Kidd and Shumpert’s inability to knock down perimeter shots is putting too much pressure on Felton.

The Knicks still have a 13-12 road record but that will be in jeopardy by the time March is over. The five-game trip features the Warriors, who will have David Lee back; Anthony’s return to Denver; Portland, which beat the Knicks at the Garden Jan. 1; the Clippers, who outclassed the Knicks at MSG before the All-Star break; and Utah, where they haven’t won since 2005.

It’s an 0-5 trip waiting to happen.

“We still have one of the best road records and we got to get some wins on the road before we go West,’’ Felton said.