The statement the Knicks are still for real was made today — for just one half.
The Knicks blew a 14-point halftime lead as LeBron James carried the Heat home and Carmelo Anthony disappeared in the second half. The Heat won its 14th straight with a 99-93 victory at the Garden, overcoming a 16-point second-quarter deficit behind James’ 29 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists.
Melo scored 8 second-half points and 4 in the fourth quarter after a 24-point explosion in the first half, finishing with 32. The Heat had lost twice to the Knicks before today, gaining revenge and establishing themselves again as the clear favorite to get out of the East.
“We can’t beat anyone scoring 34 points in the second half. It’s not going to happen,’ Anthony said.
“They made adjustments. They were going to try to keep the ball out of my hands,” Melo said of his 8-point second half. “I was taking what they were giving me, creating for anybody else. It was a matter of taking advantage of that and someone else stepping up.’’
Melo said after the game he was not hampered by a hyperextended left arm he suffered late in the second quarter. The Knicks needed a secondary scorer but J.R. Smith was an absolute flop, shooting 5 of 18, scoring 13 points; he was 3-for-14 from the 3-point range. Amar’e Stoudemire (12 points) was taken out with six minutes left and the Knicks could’ve used some of his offense.
Smith ended his lousy day by throwing an interception to James, who raced in for a monster fastbreak dunk to seal the win with 40 seconds left. Smith then bricked another jumper as the Knicks sputtered.
“In crunch time, we turned it over and they made us pay for it,” Knicks coach Mike Woodson said. “They are a great team and you have to do everything right to beat them.”
Dwyane Wade’s free throw with 8:01 left put the Heat in the lead for the first time since the 8-minute mark of the second quarter. After an Anthony travel, Wade stroked a jumper to put Miami up 85-82. Wade finished with 20 points.
James did it all. He blocked Tyson Chandler on a drive. Chandler stayed on the ground arguing instead of getting back on defense. James scored on a follow with Chandler a split-second late getting back as the Heat went up 91-87 with 4:01 left.
The final two minutes were a disaster for the Knicks. Smith shot up another brick, James drove for a bucket, Raymond Felton turned the ball over and Chris Bosh iced it with an 18-footer jumper to put Miami up 97-91 with 1:06 left.
The Heat cut the 14-point halftime deficit to 77-73 after three quarters, as the Knicks squandered their comfortable lead in the final minute. They couldn’t grab a rebound after two straight Heat misses, allowing Norris Cole to bag a jumper. Then after Smith missed a wide open 3 in the closing seconds, Shane Batter came down and drained a trey with 1.8 seconds left in the third to bring Miami within 4.
James took a scary fall midway through the third quarter as he went up for an alley-oop pass and got fouled by Smith. James hit the floor hard, seemingly twisting his knee. He stayed down for less than a minute, got up gingerly, but sank a contested jump shot off the inbounds.
The Knicks dominated the second quarter with a 17-3 run and took a 16-point lead in the final minute of the second quarter. Anthony was in perfect rhythm, Jason Kidd drained 3-pointers and the defense was at its frenetic best and the Knicks grabbed a 59-45 lead at intermission. The only concern was Anthony hurting is ribs on a hard fall off a foul by Mario Chalmers late in the second quarter.
Woodson said the team’s first-half play was inspirational but didn’t add up in the end.
“We played great in the first half, came out flat in the third quarter and it cost us,” Woodson said. They remembered the first two games and they made us pay coming down the stretch.”
The ice cold Kidd, who had been demoted to the bench Friday, finally found his 3-point shot that had been missing since mid-December. Kidd was 4 for 4 before an off-balance, desperation heave in the final seconds of the half.
Anthony scored the Knicks first 7 points and 17 of their 22 first-quarter points. No other Knick scored more than 2 points in the quarter.Anthony shot 6 of 8 from the field, and 11 of 12 from the free-throw line in the first half.
James White, who started at small forward to face guard James, at least kept Anthony out of foul trouble early. Assigned to James, White picked up three fouls in the first four minutes, although two came on switches.
Despite two memorable alley-oop dunks from Wade, James finished the half with 10 points with three rebounds, two assists and two turnovers.
“Fourteen in a row, we are playing good ball right now,” James said after the game. “New York is one of the best teams in our league and has played well at home. To get a win under those circumstances was good.”
The Knicks moved the ball like they did during their 18-5 start to the season, creating open 3s. Melo was sharp as a tack. On one play, Anthony had the ball knocked away on a drive, picked it up in the lane and had the wherewithal to toss an alley oop for Chandler for a dunk. Chandler was 4 of 4 in the half and hounded every Heat player who got into the lane.
Kidd and Chandler knocked off the Heat two years go to win an NBA title in Dallas and appeared to be at it again as Miami-busters. Kidd’s fourth 3-pointer put the Knicks up 42-37.
James, on give-and-gos with Wade, soared high for two monstrous alley-oops. The second one was a thing of beauty as he soared well above the rim to catch the pass with his right hand and flush it down. Smith fell asleep on the play and Stoudemire didn’t rotate – or move – as James put it down.
Stoudemire came off the bench and had a nice duel with Heat reserve center Chris “Bird Man” Anderson. Anderson blocked Stoudemire on one post-up. Stoudemire answered back with a driving dunk on Anderson after which they exchanged words.
Knicks’ Tyson Chandler said the team was crestfallen after letting the chance for a third win against the defending champs slip away.
“I felt like it was a very winnable game. I’m walking out of here feeling like we let one go,’ Chandler said.’