NBA

Big front line leads Knicks to rout of Jazz, 108-81

With rumors and distractions regarding Phil Jackson possibly joining the team as everything but a player, the Knicks tried for a modest two-game winning streak with the Jazz supplying the opposition.

Landing Jackson — actually doing anything — should be so easy.

Taking advantage of the start of a remarkably soft stretch on the schedule, the Knicks grabbed control of the game early and never let go. Carmelo Anthony found far more resistance from a cold than the Jazz and scored 18 of his 29 points in the first quarter and added a season-high eight assists as the Knicks cruised to a 108-81 rout Friday at the Garden.

“Fighting a little cold right now,” Anthony said. “Nothing major.”

Yes, that cold was more troublesome than the Jazz who: gave the Knicks 27 points off 19 turnovers; defended the Knicks into 70-percent shooting in the first quarter which ended with the Knicks up 17; helped the Knicks keep their playoff fantasies swirling.

“The last two games, we had no choice,” coach Mike Woodson said.

“Having your back against the wall, lineup change, it’s a lot of little things that are forming a big thing,” said Tyson Chandler, who scored 16 points with 11 rebounds.

With a back-to-back scenario lurking through Saturday’s game at Cleveland, playing time was liberally dispersed throughout the roster. Anthony played 32 minutes, the most of any Knick. Amar’e Stoudemire (10 points), who started a third straight game in a frontcourt with Anthony and Chandler, played 18.

“[That’s] good because if [Stoudemire] had to play 30 minutes, I don’t know if I would had have him for this back-to-back,” said Woodson, who declined comment beforehand on the Jackson situation and indicated he had no idea Anthony was sick until the third quarter.

With a schedule fluke in which the Knicks (23-40) face nine teams out of the next 10 opponents who were a combined 203 games under .500 entering the night, the Knicks realized this was their very last chance for playoff consideration.

“We’re playing for something,” Raymond Felton said. “We have a great opportunity.”

The Jazz (21-41) got 18 points each from Gordon Hayward and Alec Burks, but were overwhelmed at both ends.

“We’re fighting and scrapping early and after that we’re sustaining it,” said J.R. Smith, who added 17 points. “We can cave in and let teams beat the hell out of us or come out fighting, and coming out fighting starts at the defensive end.”