MIAMI — No Melo. No problem.
Carmelo Anthony chose to sit out with a cut middle finger and the Knicks chose to step up in sensational fashion — Raymond Felton, in particular.
Felton has a bad hand, too, playing with a bone bruise in his left thumb, but that didn’t prevent him from lighting up all of South Beach with a spectacular aerial show.
Felton finished with a season-high 27 points and a career-high six 3-pointers, and Steve Novak joined the 3-point assault, finishing with 18 points in a statement win as the Knicks blew the defending champions into the ocean with a 112-92 trouncing at AmericanAirlines Arena.
“I thought the flow offensively was great tonight and our defense was solid in the third and fourth quarters,” Knicks coach Mike Woodson said.
The Knicks are now 2-0 against the Miami Dream Team — two 20-point wins — and nobody can blame this Heat loss to the Knicks on Hurricane Sandy.
They knocked the Heat off by 20 points at the Garden on Nov. 2, less than a week after Sandy.
The Knicks are an Eastern Conference best 14-4 and Miami president Pat Riley’s hair had to turn white in watching the Knicks shoot 18-of-41 from 3-point range.
LeBron James had a terrific first half but the Knicks rattled him in the final two quarters and he had no help. James finished with 31 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists, but Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh combined to shoot 6-of-25. James was hounded by Ronnie Brewer, who blocked him at the rim in the third quarter, and the rarely used James White.
Anthony, sitting out with a cut on his middle finger, watched the action in a European black suit from the bench. Anthony said he was comfortable missing the game because he’ll see the Heat two more times. Actually, there could be a lot more meetings, with these teams seemingly headed for a showdown in the Eastern Conference finals.
With most of the Heat fans having headed to the exits in the final minutes, a “Let’s Go New York’’ chant rained down in Miami. James, at the final buzzer, came over to congratulate the Knicks players.
After a tied first half, the Knicks bolted out of the second-half gate, draining three straight 3-pointers. Jason Kidd nailing the first, then Felton banged in two straight. They led 64-55 with 9:42 left in the third and Miami called time out.
The Knicks continued the barrage and made 8 of 13 from the 3-point line in the third quarter and built a 85-67 lead with 3:25 left in the period. Even White drained a corner 3 during the spree after a whip pass from Felton.
Early in the third quarter, Felton was 5-of-7 from the 3-point line for 22 points. But he was in visible pain after losing the ball to James and banging his left hand.
Wednesday’s hero, J.R. Smith, and Novak hit back to back 3-pointers to put them up 72-61 with 6:40 left in the third. Felton got to 27 points after another deep right-wing 3-pointer put them up 77-67. The Heat rallied to cut it to 90-80 after three quarters.
But the Knicks hung tough in the fourth. Rasheed Wallace had a big tip-in and Novak set off a mini-chest-bumping celebration with a corner 3-pointer with 6:18 left as Miami called time, trailing 100-84. Miami never recovered and Smith punctuated the night with a fast-break slam off a Kidd steal.
James finished a masterpiece first half with 18 points, seven assists and five rebounds. He nearly ended the half in grand style as he took an inbounds pass with 0.8 seconds left, turned and swished the shot at the buzzer. But after a video review, it was overturned and the teams headed into halftime tied at 50.