Carmelo Anthony said after Saturday’s debacle in Philly he couldn’t “throw a rock into the ocean.’’
Sunday night in sweet, record-setting redemption, Anthony filled up the ocean with 3-point daggers and then snapped a late-fourth-quarter funk by scoring the game-winner on a hard drive and traditional 3-point play with 12.5 seconds left as the Knicks edged Atlanta, 106-104 in a wild Garden shootout.
In breaking his recent shooting slump, Melo set his personal high for 3-pointers with 9 and tied the team’s franchise record for single-game 3s as he scored 42 points in the Knicks’ bounce-back win.
Anthony scored the go-ahead basket, blowing by Josh Smith for the layup and foul.
After he made the free throws, the Knicks went up 106-104. Atlanta nearly won it at the buzzer as Atlanta’s surging PG Jeff Teague fed to Smith, who nearly banked home a 3-pointer at the buzzer.
Raymond Felton made his impact felt in his second game, as several of Anthony’s 3-point looks came off his feeds. Felton finished with 12 points and 10 assists.
Anthony also tied the franchise record held by Richie Guerin for most consecutive games with 20-plus points, reaching 29 contests. Melo entered the fourth quarter with 33 points – 9 of 12 from 3-point land.
Anthony, in his past seven games since his heroic night in Orlando, had shot 68 of 187.
One night after their disgrace in Philly when Jrue Holiday toasted them, the Knicks got burned by another young point guard they failed to draft in the same year, Teague, who dribbled his way to 27 points.
Melo’s opportunity was set up when the Knicks got a break as Smith committed a moving pick on Felton with 22 seconds left, giving them the ball back, trailing by one.
Anthony broke a tie with a 14-footer from the left side, giving the Knicks a 101-99 lead with 2:51 left. But a Felton turnover resulted in Smith’s fastbreak dunk to tie the score at 101 with 2:02 left.
Anthony got a technical foul after bumping with DeShawn Stevenson and getting poked in the eye. Melo slammed the ball down in anger and got flagged. Kyle Korver made the technical foul shot that put the Hawks by one point with 2:02 left.
Amar’e Stoudemire ripped down an offensive rebound off a Melo miss, got fouled and made both free throws to put the Knicks up 103-102. But Horford scored on an alley-oop over Stoudemire as the Hawks went up 104-103 with 1:30 left. Stoudemire was lax on defense but finished with 18 points. J.R. Smith also had 18 after his 0 for 8, scoreless night in Philly.
Anthony committed a bad turnover as he threw the ball away with 1:02 left. Then he missed wildly inside with 45 seconds left.
The Knicks shot the ball like an NBA team Sunday night but their defense wasn’t much and they were tied with the Hawks at 52 at the break.
Felton had a much better start to his second game back from a broken pinkie, starting the game 3 for 3, hitting three 18-foot jumper in the opening minutes. Jason Kidd started but played five minutes before his back tightened.
Anthony struggled from the field early, throwing up an airball and another shot that barely grazed the rim. With Melo held to 1 of 5 shooting and 5 points, the Knicks held a slim 27-25 lead after one quarter.
But Melo came on in the second period, and made three straight 3-pointers in the final 2:50 of the second quarter. He finished with 16 points by intermission but it was matched by Teague.
Iman Shumpert, after his 0 for 6 night in Philly, made two buckets in the opening 3:30 on this night of shooting redemption.
Anthony and Smith entered the game in significant shooting slumps. Smith, shooting 30 percent in the past eight games, came on in the second quarter and finished with 20 points.
Sunday’s win started a five-game homestand as the club’s stated intention is to create a bigger lead in the Atlantic Division and as second seeds in the Eastern Conference entering the Feb. 15’s All-Star Break.
The Knicks hit their schedule midpoint in Saturday’s disgraceful loss in Philly. They lead the Nets by 2 games in the Atlantic Division while barely clinging to the East’s second seed. Four teams were within 2 games of the No. 2 Knicks in the Eastern standings entering Sunday.