ORLANDO, Fla. — The unbeaten streak carries on in Florida, but the Knicks needed to survive a Disney dogfight with the reeling Magic for three quarters Tuesday night.
Carmelo Anthony made a key defensive play early in the fourth and got hot from the field to finish with 25 points as the Knicks pulled away for a 99-89 victory at Amway Center to move the club to 5-0 — their best start since the 1993-94 season. All five victories have been by double digits.
In the final minute, the large amount of Knicks fans on hand howled in delight.
The Knicks, who face the Spurs tomorrow, are the lone unbeaten team in the NBA. San Antonio was the last team to fall from the unbeaten ranks one week ago.
Coach Mike Woodson has preached how good the club has been late in games because of its conditioning and depth, and it proved it last night.
J.R. Smith, behind a big third-quarter surge, finished with 21 off the bench. Raymond Felton added 21 points and five assists — four of them on alley-oop lobs to Tyson Chandler (12 points). The Knicks led 77-76 after three quarters, with Smith making all five of his shots in the period.
The Knicks’ league-leading defense didn’t do much to stop the depleted Magic in the first half as Orlando took a 53-49 lead, and they only led 77-76 after three quarters against the pitiful post-Dwight-Howard Magic.
Even former St. John’s standout, rookie Mo Harkless burned the Knicks for 10 points and six rebounds in 12 minutes off the bench in the first half, including two easy drives down the lane. Harkless was 5 of 7 from the field. The Knicks weren’t helping out and were hurt by early foul trouble for Tyson Chandler, the reigning Defensive Player of the Year.
The Magic, which had lost four straight games, played without point guard Jameer Nelson and scoring forward Hedo Turkoglu. But the Knicks didn’t figure out how to stop Orlando, which scored inside points with second-year center Nikola Vucevic scoring three uncontested inside hoops in the half. The Magic had 34 points in the paint.
Anthony had a good scoring half, crisp with his pull-up jumper, but he even got frustrated late in the half, earning a technical foul. He was angry on a non-call after he backed down former Nuggets teammate Aaron Afflalo and missed the bucket. He yapped downcourt, then slammed the ball down after the next stoppage. Anthony finished with 16 points at halftime on 8 of 13 shooting but didn’t get to the foul line — much to his dismay..
The Magic shot 49 percent in the first half. Glen “Baby Davis was 4 of 4, including one interception of Raymond Felton bounce pass to Anthony after which he raced in for a fastbreak layup. The Knicks were allowing just 87.5 points per game through their first four games.
It was also aa bad shooting night from the perimeter for Rasheed Wallace, who missed all five of his 3-pointers.
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The game was delayed for 10 minutes after the first quarter after a frightening incident in which Orlando dancer Jamie Wood, a former UCF cheerleader and member of the Magic stunt team, fell on her head after losing balance atop a male cheerleader’s shoulder.
She lay on the floor for several minutes as paramedics placed her on a restraining board as the arena grew silent. But as they wheeled her out on her back, she waved to the crowd then exaggerated moving her arms.
She was transferred to Orlando Regional Medical Center. The Magic said she was “breathing on her own and moving her extremities.’’
marc.berman@nypost.com