NBA

Knicks beat Suns, but Felton day-to-day with thumb injury

The jelly-filling part of their holiday schedule is almost over as the Knicks whipped another bad club today, the Phoenix Suns, in a 106-99 Sunday matinee win.

The victory was the Knicks’ third straight and comes two days after New York blew out the NBA’s worst club, the Washington Wizards. The Knicks moved to 12-4 and 7-0 at home – their first 7-0 Garden start since 1992-93. They gained sole possession of first place in the Atlantic division.

Carmelo Anthony finished with a team-high 34 points and was 11 of 27 from the field.

Raymond Felton finished with 23 points and 7 assists. Tyson Chandler had 15 points and 13 rebounds. However, Felton jammed his left thumb in the second half, and an MRI later revealed a contusion and bone bruise. The Knicks are listing him as day to day.

The game wasn’t sealed for the Knicks until J.R. Smith hit two free throws with 26 seconds left after Phoenix cut the deficit to 4 points, 103-99.

“Every game is not going to be a runaway, a blowout for us,” Knicks coach Mike Woodson said. “We were able to get the W, that is what counts.”

The Knicks begin a three-game road trip Wednesday against last season’s worst team, the Bobcats, who have improved since former St. John’s coach Mike Dunlap took over.

Suns coach Alvin Gentry, no longer armed with Steve Nash, should’ve forced all of his players to take a flight home yesterday and not bothered to show up at MSG, considering their start – 6 turnovers in 7 minutes, allowing the Knicks to take a 21-6 lead. The Suns had won their last two appearances at the Garden.

Phoenix actually rallied within six points midway through the fourth. Brooklyn’s Sebastian Telfair led the charge after hitting Pablo Prigioni in the face, drawing blood from his nose. The blood apparently awoke the Suns. Telfair hit a three, then two jumpers and the Suns were down less than 10 points, 91-82, with 8:19 left. Jared Dudley hit a 3-pointer from the right wing, bringing Phoenix within six points with 6:45 left.

Chandler then scored on a putback dunk and Telfair’s spree ran out as he unwisely drove to the basket on a double-team, tossed up an airball runner, and Felton scored on the break the other way to boost the lead back to 95-85.

The Knicks opened an 18-6 lead after that. Felton hit pick-and-rolling Chandler on a perfect alley-oop lob with 5:30 left in the first quarter, forcing Gentry to call timeout.

Earlier in the game, Anthony gave the Knicks their first double-digit lead after 4:30, draining a left-wing trey. The Knicks forced nine turnovers in the first quarter – a season high. A Ronnie Brewer steal and coast-to-coast layup put the Knicks up an embarrassing 21-6 with 5:15 left in the quarter.

The Knicks appeared to get bored and Rasheed Wallace got two quick technicals after a hard foul on Luis Scola in the second quarter. Wallace got a quick T, then was tossed for his second T after appearing to yell “Ball don’t Lie’’ as Scola missed his free throw. Wallace then flipped after getting tossed, mouthing profane words as he left the court as the Garden crowd cheered his temper tantrum.

Knicks coach Woodson was unhappy at the quick trigger, yelling out to the refs, “You overreacted.’’

Wallace’s ejection – 31th of his career – wasn’t well-timed because backup center Marcus Camby sat out the game with a sore left foot. Wallace is the all-time leader in technical fouls.

Woodson turned to rookie Chris Copeland, who stepped up, making 4 of 5 shots, including a midair righthanded putback dunk that drew the loudest cheers of the quarter.

The Suns, at the end of their road trip, cut the Knicks deficit to six midway through the second quarter. The Knicks missed a lot of open shots as Carmelo Anthony and Chandler blew wide-open dunks and Kurt Thomas somehow missed an uncontested layup, missing the rim after hitting the ball too hard off the glass.

Thomas didn’t start the third quarter, as Steve Novak got the honors again, just like in Milwaukee.

But Melo got hot late in the final minutes with a couple of turnarounds and the Knicks took a 59-42 lead into the intermission.

Anthony had 17 points in the half but shot just 6 of 15. Steve Novak drained three 3-pointers in the first half for 9 points and Felton was 4 of 6 from the field for 10 points.