LeBron James proved the point again, hammered it home completely. He could have been King of New York — 41 regular-season games and beyond instead of just this one, magical, triple-double night.
James quieted a deafening, electric Garden crowd in the second half, silencing the thunderous boos, humbling the Knicks and lifting his hated Miami Dream Team to a second-half rout and 113-91 victory.
James, who can opt out of his Miami contract before the 2014-15 season, showed how good he can be and Amar’e Stoudemire showed even he can have an off game during a Debbie Downer evening that saw his streak of nine straight games of at least 30 points end.
James, razzed as “LeChicken” on The Post’s back page yesterday, said before the game that he didn’t chicken out of signing a free-agent deal with the Knicks because he couldn’t handle the bright lights of Broadway, then went out and posted a triple-double with 32 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists.
After a 57-57 first half filled with boos, chants and throbbing noise, the Heat easily took over the game with a 33-17 third period. That left the tally one great first half, one lousy third quarter and one anti-climactic fourth.
“It is good to see the fans here are back and they love the game of basketball,” James said. “It’s a great building. Dwyane [Wade] and I talk about it all the time. There’s certainly buildings in the league you thrive in and get excited about.”
Indeed, James never fails to light up the Garden, but this time everyone was against him for spurning the Knicks this summer and leaving Stoudemire on his own.
Perhaps finally feeling the pressure, Stoudemire finished with 26 points and 14 rebounds, but shot just 11-of-28, as his team-record streak was snapped. He was 2-of-7 from the line.
“We understand we’re not far away but we have to get better,” Stoudemire said. “We have to get better defensively. We didn’t run as we normally do in the second half. It has been a long week. Miami is playing well and when they get on a roll, it’s tough to stop them.”
The Garden greeted James with thunderous boos during pregame intros and heavy boos each time he touched the ball in the first half. The Garden was as loud as it had been since the 1999 Finals and the game was perhaps the hottest ticket since that run. But during the fourth quarter, there was nothing left in the tank for the Knicks or the fans. The Knicks never moved within single digits in the fourth.
“The fans here are great,” James said. “Very passionate. If you’re not on their team, you [stink].”
Chris Bosh, ironically, heard the brunt of the chants, as the fans resounded with “Over-rated!” when he shot free throws.
“I loved it,” said Bosh, who finished with 26 points and outplayed Stoudemire. “It was a nice try. I know I’m a good player. It was additional motivation for me, gave me extra incentive.”
Dream Week ended with a thud and 1-2 record. The Knicks (16-11) knocked off Denver, lost a sensational game at the buzzer to the Celtics, then didn’t quite rise fully to the occasion against Miami. The Knicks, who face Cleveland tonight, shot a season-low 39.3 and were held to their lowest output since late November.
Mike D’Antoni talked about his Knicks’ “emotional letdown” from the fiery week.
“It’s where we are right now,” D’Antoni said of the defeat. “The first half was great, some of the best basketball I’ve seen in a long time. We want to keep it there and not get ahead of ourselves.”
James lavished praise on the Knicks.
“We held a really good, no, a great offensive team to 39-percent shooting,” James said. “The Knicks are a really good team. You know now you have to mentally prepare yourself to have a game plan because those guys are dangerous and D’Antoni puts them in position to be successful. There were times in the past the first few years you know you could come here and they wouldn’t play as hard.”
After the Knicks’ third-quarter-from-hell, James slowly put on his warmup suit on the Heat bench, looking as if he had conquered France. James scored 14 points in the third, including four straight buckets in the final three minutes.
James certainly conquered the Garden, much like he conquered Cleveland on his return there Dec. 2.
The hostile reaction was deserved as the Knicks brass spent two years clearing cap space for James, but he declined to join Stoudemire in New York, a union that could have made the Knicks a championship contender. Instead, they need another big piece to compete, perhaps Carmelo Anthony.
And now their bench is razor-thin. D’Antoni was forced to play Stoudemire and Felton too many minutes and it may have wore them down. Felton was 3-of-12, and the Knicks are shopping for a backup point guard.
“We’re human,” Felton said. “You miss shots sometimes.”
The Knicks were outclassed in the second half. Stoudemire had an awful time of it — especially from the line, where he started the night 0-for-5. Missing a pair of free throws in the third quarter served as a big momentum killer for the Knicks. Danilo Gallinari, after a 21-point bust-out in the first half, finished with just 26.
James dominated them like he was a Cavalier again. They couldn’t make a stop. After one James jumper, he stared down ubiquitous fan Spike Lee, who was sitting courtside. James and Lee had words early in the game, with James having the long, last laugh.