ATLANTA — Carmelo Anthony didn’t get to 50 points again Wednesday night, but he didn’t come too far from it.
Anthony poured in 36 points after three quarters and became more of a creator in the fourth quarter with the Hawks doubling him. He finished with 40 points to the delight of the many Knicks fans in the Philips Arena crowd.
J.R. Smith and Raymond Felton came on in the fourth quarter to deliver the knockout blows, as the winning streak moved to 10 games in the Knicks’ 95-82 victory. It’s the longest win streak since the 1993-94 season. Smith had 19 and Felton 10 of his 14 in the last quarter.
Anthony, who scored 50 Tuesday night in Miami, was threatening Bernard King’s feat of back-to-back 50-point games as a Knick in 1985. Ironically, King lives in Atlanta and attended the game.
Anthony finished 17 of 27 from the field, giving him 90 points on the two-game trip.
Anthony picked up where he left off when he blitzed the Heat with his laser-like jump-shooting accuracy. Last night, Anthony drove slightly more, but he mostly relied on a pull-up jumper. Loud Melo chants rang out in Atlanta as Anthony shot free throws in the first half.
The Knicks led 47-40 at halftime behind Anthony’s 24 points. He had 27 at halftime in Miami on the way to 50. He finished 9 of 13 in the half — hitting 5 of 6 free throws.
Anthony finished with 13 points in the first quarter, making back-to-back buckets to close the period, splashing a 3-pointer and then getting a sweet bounce after a side jumper hit the rim and fell through.
In a statistical rarity, Josh Smith managed to go 0–for 7 from the free-throw line in the first half. The Knicks (48-26) moved 22 games above .500 for the first time since 1997.
Anthony was looking to create in the fourth quarter and fired a pass to Smith cross court. He drove to the hole and threw down a monster dunk that had the Knicks fans in the arena howling in delight. Smith then hit a tough lean-in from 12 feet on a nifty shake-and-bake move to make it 91-77 — the final icing to the cake.
Felton drove for three straight speedy drives to the hoop for layups to give the Knicks breathing room at 82-74 with 6:48 left.
The Knicks and Smith started to lose their cool midway through the third quarter and the Hawks rallied from eight points down to tie it at 64 with 1:32 left.
After committing an ugly turnover trying to beat three defenders, Smith soon after committed a silly technical foul for staring down Ivan Johnson and bumping him. It put Kyle Korver on the line and he hit the technical to give Atlanta 65-64 lead, but Anthony hit another face-up jumper as the Knicks went ahead 66-65.
Smith redeemed himself by hitting a buzzer-beating jumper over Anthony Tolliver to tie the score at 68 after three quarters.
marc.berman@nypost.com