HURTS SO BAD! Raymond Felton slams his left hand on the court in pain after banging his right pinkie into Samuel Dalembert during the third quarter of the Knicks’ 96-86 win. (Paul J. Bereswill)
(Paul J. Bereswill)
Raymond Felton has cautioned if his right pinkie breaks again, he could be lost for the season. That’s why the moments late in the third quarter were scarier than anything the red-hot Bucks did to the Knicks during Milwaukee’s big first half last night.
During a scramble for a rebound with 1:14 left in the third quarter, Milwaukee’s Samuel Dalembert kneed Felton in the hand. The Knicks’ starting point guard, in his fourth game back, walked around the court, wincing, holding his pinkie.
Had it broken again?
“The thought crossed my mind for sure, with the pain,’’ Felton said.
He played with a grimace for the rest of the quarter, then consulted with the Knicks training staff on the bench, iced the pinkie and sat for several ominous minutes.
Convincing the trainers he was OK, Felton returned with 8:10 left, hit two huge baskets down the stretch, defended with zeal and guided the Knicks to a come-from-behind 96-86 victory over the Bucks at the Garden.
Felton finished with 14 points and eight assists. Better yet, X-rays after the game showed no break, though he said it was still very “sore.’’
“‘I knew this day would come when I got hit on it really hard,’’ Felton said. “It would be very painful. It’s something I have to deal with. Once I got back in I knew it wasn’t broken. It wasn’t the same feeling when I came back and played versus the Lakers [on Dec. 25].’’
The Knicks (29-15) trailed the Bucks — who had won eight of 12 games entering last night — by 12 points during a porously defended first half, but clamped down late, holding them to 13 fourth-quarter points. The tag-team backcourt of Felton and Iman Shumpert, who had been lax defensively, held down the Bucks guards of Brandon Jennings and Monta Ellis, who shot a combined 2 of 7 in the final period.
The Knicks moved a half-game behind the Heat for first place in the East, and it means coach Mike Woodson still has a shot to coach the Eastern Conference All-Star Team.
“If we played like we did in the third and fourth quarter, we would have won this thing going away,’’ Woodosn said.
The victory included the early third-quarter benching of the slumping Shumpert after 61 seconds after he committed another defensive breakdown, losing his man on a backdoor cut. As Shumpert got to the bench, he and Woodson exchanged heated words. Shumpert returned late in the third and played a solid fourth quarter, hitting three big shots, including a dagger 3-pointer that put the Knicks up 92-81 with 3:09 left.
Shumpert scored all seven of his points in the fourth.
“When I pulled him, he didn’t seem like he had much energy in the fourth quarter,’’ said Woodson, who has been critical of Shumpert of late. “He was big in the fourth, making plays. It was kind of nice to see.’’
Tyson Chandler added nine points and 20 rebounds and Carmelo Anthony had 25 points despite a poor 7 of 22 ledger. He had six assists but also seven turnovers. Amar’e Stoudemire added 17 points and seven boards.
Woodson said Felton may have to play in that sort of fear all season. But Felton said he believes after the All-Star break, he won’t use his big pad protecting the pinkie that he broke on Christmas.
“I got a pad on it,’’ Felton said. “If it didn’t have the pad, I might’ve broken it. Luckily I had a pad on it and it’s just a lot of pain. It still hurts right now.’’
Felton immediately ignited the Knicks on his return to the game. During the game-sealing run, Felton engineered a fastbreak and fed Chandler for an alley-oop dunk and an 82-75 lead with 6:45 left. He then hit a right-corner 3-pointer and scored on a drive.
“He’s a warrior,’’ Chandler said. “He hasn’t missed a lot of games in his career. He’s a very durable player.‘’
The Knicks fell behind 12 points in the second quarter, drawing boos after Felton sent a pass over Jason Kidd’s head and out of bounds. The Bucks led 53-47 at halftime, shooting 47 percent and drilling 6 of 13 3-pointers. Ersan Ilyasova, the guy former Scott Skiles wouldn’t start, leading to his recent exit, made 7 of 8 shots for 16 points.
“We buckled down and made our adjustments,’’ Anthony said.