Raymond Felton battled for the rebound with two Pacers when Chris Copeland missed a 3-pointer with a few minutes left in the third quarter last night. And the 6-foot-1 Felton is not the Knick you’d expect to come up with the carom.
But it was Felton who relentlessly fought and fought for the ball, finally corralling it to keep the Knicks’ possession alive. And soon enough, Copeland’s putback gave the Knicks an 11-point lead.
Felton kept that play alive through pure effort and grind, and it was part of an absolutely terrific second half for the point guard in the Knicks’ season-saving 85-75 Game 5 win. The Knicks staved off elimination and will visit Indiana for Game 6 tomorrow. Felton had a lot to do with it.
He finished with a solid if unspectacular line of 12 points, five rebounds, four assists, three steals and — not surprisingly — zero turnovers. But keep this in mind — he produced nearly the entire line after halftime, delivering all of it but two points of it in arguably the most important second half of his career.
And of the Knicks’ season.
“Just wanted to be more aggressive with ’em,” Felton said.
Felton had just two points, no assists, no rebounds and no steals in the first half, but after his slow start, he was aggressive in the third quarter, starting it with a floater and soon knocking down a mid-range jumper for a 47-42 Knick lead.
He added a driving layup, kept alive Copeland’s putback play, fed Kenyon Martin for a layup, drove and found Martin for two foul shots and closed the quarter by stealing a pass from Gerald Green.
“We found a play that worked so we tried to milk it,” Martin said.
Felton kept it going in the fourth. He sank a jumper, drove and found Tyson Chandler for a lay-up and scored a transition layup after J.R. Smith’s steal, lifting the Knicks to an 81-71 lead. While Felton did suffer a “sore” ankle last night, he insisted it was a non-issue.
“I’ll be ready on Saturday,” he said.
Felton, who has already advanced further in the playoffs than he ever has been, had a terrific series against the Celtics. Other than a brutal Game 3 in Indy, he’s had a strong series against the Pacers too. And last night he was superb.
mark.hale@nypost.com