It took a young Jersey guy with a broken jaw and black mask to nearly derail the Knicks’ home unbeaten streak at the Garden.
The league’s new masked man, the Cavaliers’ Kyrie Irving, put on a dazzling show last night with a career-high 41 points — 17 in the final six minutes. But the shorthanded Knicks escaped when Anderson Varejao missed the second of his two free throws with one second left, preserving a 103-102 thriller to send the Knicks to a 10-0 Garden record.
“If [Varejao] made his free throws, we’d still have 1 second left on the clock and still had enough time to win the game,’’ triumphant Mike Woodson said. “That’s all I was thinking about.’’
Not even coach Woodson’s shocking move of starting rookie Chris Copeland at the power forward last night in place of injured Carmelo Anthony (ankle) could stop the Knicks’ home streak. Copeland started at power forward, finishing with a career-high 11 points, while the Knicks’ top backup big man Rasheed Wallace also sat out with a chronic left foot injury.
Next up tomorrow: Linsanity.
Imagine if Jeremy Lin’s Rockets, who whipped the Knicks, 131-103, in Houston the day after Thanksgiving, become the team to end the Garden run? Anthony status for the game hasn’t been determined, but it appears likely he will play.
“I don’t know yet,’’ Woodson said. “He’s getting treatment and we’ll see where he is come Monday.’’
No Anthony. No Wallace. No Amar’e Stoudemire. No Iman Shumpert. No Marcus Camby. No losing at the Garden.
“It’s a huge win for us,’’ Tyson Chandler said. “Anytime you’re able to get a win … and look at the roster, playing eight, nine players, it’s big no matter what the score.’’
The Knicks — as usual — found a way. Chandler awoke in the second half for 21 of his 23 points on 9-of-10 shooting and had 10 rebounds after playing limited minutes in the first half because he was “feeling under the weather.”
“We can’t make excuses just because Melo and Rasheed are out,’’ Woodson said.
Jason Kidd couldn’t shoot straight, but sparked the club on both ends with his dishes and defense and the Knicks (18-5) stayed the NBA’s lone unbeaten team at home.
Irving’s two free throws with 10.1 seconds left cut the Knicks lead to 102-101. Steve Novak (13 points, four 3-pointers) made one of two free throws, pushing the lead to two points with 9.5 seconds left. The Knicks finally pressured the sizzling Irving at halfcourt and he was forced to whip a pass to Varejao, who drove the lane, collided into J.R. Smith and got the foul call.
“I was hoping he’d just miss one,’’ Kidd said. “Me and Tyson talked about the play. We were going to force the ball out of his hands and make someone make a play. We were very fortunate he missed a free throw. Those guys fought. It wasn’t pretty but we got the win.’’
Varejao made the first free throw, after which Woodson craftily put in a substitute, Kurt Thomas, to delay the shooter. Varejao missed the second, the ball going in and out. Smith got the rebound and the Knicks survived.
“I can’t even be mad because the way I missed it,’’ Varejao said. “It felt better than the first one.”
Irving, out of West Orange, N.J., was terrific wearing his new black mask to protect the jaw he broke Friday night. Irving, who shot 15 of 25, was one of three Cavs wearing protective masks, along with forwards Tristan Thompson and Tyler Zeller, as the team looked more like the Cleveland Browns.
Kidd, playing a lot of point guard instead of off the ball, rose to the occasion, despite losing his feel from the 3-point stripe. He scored nine points with eight assists and six rebounds, but shot just 3-of-13 from the 3-point stripe.
Nevertheless, Kidd, the league leader in 3-point percentage, made a key 3-pointer with 3:45 left to put the Knicks up 93-87.
“I was trying to see if I could make a shot,’’ Kidd joked. “It was a bad time to start missing shots.’’
The No. 1 overall pick in 2011 and reigning Rookie of the Year, Irving is playing even better than that. His driving layup through traffic cut the deficit to 95-93 with 50 seconds left before Chandler hit two free throws on the other end. But Irving, who was on the U.S. Olympic practice squad, came right back to scare the lights out of the Knicks.
“He is phenomenal,’’ Woodson said. “I watched him this summer at the Olympic [training] camp. Him competing against LeBron [James], Melo and I thought he was the bright spot. He could have easily played on that team.’’
Said Kidd of Irving, “He was incredible, so under control. Never forced a thing. He played it to the end and never took a bad shot.’’