TEAM EFFORT: Pablo Prigioni (above) came off the bench to score 11 points and dish out seven assists in the Knicks’ 102-88 win over the Bucks last night in Milwaukee. Carmelo Anthony (bottom) scored 29 points and grabbed eight rebounds (
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MILWAUKEE — As the final seconds melted away Wednesday night at Bradley Center, Carmelo Anthony shook each player’s hand on the bench. “Good bounce-back, good bounce-back,’’ he congratulated each of them.
Indeed, the Knicks were a lot sharper in Brew City than Brooklyn as they recovered emphatically from Monday’s historic overtime loss to the Nets. The Knicks didn’t miss injured Jason Kidd (back spasms) and the Knicks merrily joked in the locker room afterward about Steve Novak’s failure to dunk on a breakaway.
The high-powered offense battered the Bucks as Anthony hit for 29 points in 30 minutes, and the Knicks shredded the Central Division leaders, 102-88.
No Kidd. No problem, Anthony (29 points, eight rebounds) had plenty of help. Raymond Felton came back from the 3-of-19 Brooklyn abyss and backup point guard Pablo Prigioni looked like the Latin version of Kidd. The Spanish Leaguer had his best game as a Knick with 11 points in a season-high 28 minutes. He made 4 of 5 shots, had seven assists and converted a steal into a breakaway layup.
Felton scored 12 points on 5 of 10 shooting with seven assists and four steals. Anthony was splendid — inside and outside — and Novak lit up his hometown with 19 points — making 7 of 10 from the field, including 5 of 7 3-pointers.
But all anyone wanted to talk about afterward was why Novak decided to lay the ball in after making a rare steal.
“White man can’t jump,’’ said Tyson Chandler, who added 17 points and eight rebounds and has made 32 of his last 36 shots in his last five games. “That’s all I can say. He almost missed the layup. He should’ve ran back to the 3-point line.’’
The Knicks moved to 10-4. Of their 14 games, nine have been on the road. They come back home for what looks like two Garden gimmies — tomorrow against the Wizards, who won their first game of the season last night, and Sunday against the Suns.
Anthony and Felton ignited a late second-quarter run to push the Knicks into a comfortable 10-point lead at intermission, 58-48.
“Raymond was very aggressive,’’ Anthony said. “He was making sure he was getting to the basket.’’
“Raymond has a lot of pride,’’ Chandler said. “He was down after that last game.’’
Novak, the Milwaukee native and former Marquette star, started the second half for benched Kurt Thomas, and the Knicks went on a 10-0 run to break the game open. Novak started the surge with a 3-pointer. Anthony barreled in for a layup. Felton lit the Bucks up again with a steal coast to coast layup. Chandler scored on a tip-in and soon enough the Knicks were up 20 points.
Novak replaced starter Thomas, who was benched 3:48 into the game after the Knicks fell behind 9-3 and Thomas was outhustled. Novak and Anthony could be the starting forwards until Kidd comes back, whenever that is.
“Coach gave me good minutes, a great opportunity to be out there,’’ said Novak, playing before 18 family members. “There’s no place like playing at home. Playing at the Garden is unbelievable, but there’s nothing like being at home close to your place. Coming in I knew these rims and I let it fly when I got it.’’
But he didn’t dunk after making his steal in the fourth quarter, which seemed to disappoint the Knicks bench which rose in unison for the potential unprecedented occasion.
“We all have our limitations,’’ Novak said. “I saw Tobias Harris chasing me and that was just half the problem.’’
Prigioni, the 35-year-old warhorse, was the biggest surprise as his minutes have been spotty. With Kidd out indefinitely, he could become a big factor.
“Today I feel like I was in Europe,’’ Prigioni said. “Without Jason, did I have more minutes in Brooklyn? No. Today? Yes.”
Coach Mike Woodson said he should have used Prigioni more in Brooklyn.
“The other night I went with Raymond Felton for too long so I thought would get Pablo more minutes and he played great positive minutes,’’ Woodson said. “I was very proud how he played.”
Anthony’s 29 points came in an efficient 18 shots. He was 9 of 18, 3 of 4 on 3-pointers and 8 of 9 from the line.
“We just wanted to get back to playing defense,’’ Anthony said. “Tonight was one of those nights I made shots and made it easy for myself.’’
“The things we wanted to do didn’t happen — we wanted Melo to have an inefficient game and control their 3-pointers,’’ Bucks coach Scott Skiles said.