J.R. Smith is buried, but the Knicks are climbing out of the grave.
With Mike Woodson benching Smith for the Heat showdown for his shoelace transgressions and center Tyson Chandler still out with an illness, the Knicks didn’t miss a beat. The once-dead Knicks made their season’s biggest statement by upsetting the two-time defending champion Heat, 102-92, Thursday night before a roaring Garden crowd.
Carmelo Anthony led the charge with 29 points and a big second half as the Knicks have now won four of their last five games after capturing their first meeting against the Miami Dream Team this season. The Knicks won their third straight for the first time this season and — in case you’re counting — have beaten the Heat four of the last five meetings.
Anthony helped put away the win with a 3-pointer with 2:20 left to put the Knicks up 98-86 as he got stronger while LeBron James wilted in the final minutes. Booed loudly in pregame intros, James had his wonderful dunking moments, finished with 32 points on 12-of-17 shooting but didn’t play with reckless abandon in the final five minutes.
“It’s a momentum boost for us, a confidence-booster but it’s just another win for us,’’ Anthony said. “When you’re facing another great player, it’s bound to elevate your game. LeBron has something I want. I always take that challenge of playing against the great players in the league.’’
In addition to faux pas after faux pas, Smith has struggled all season, shooting 34 percent, compared to 42 percent last season. So Woodson finally did his thing and took Smith out of the rotation and the Knicks (13-22) looked better for it.
While Woodson could stick with the same Smith-free rotation in Philadelphia on Saturday, Anthony thinks it’s a blip on the radar.
“Mentally he’s good,’’ Melo said of Smith. “He’s probably upset today he didn’t play. It’s not life or death. I need him Saturday in Philly.’’
The Heat scored just 21 points in the fourth and the Knicks shot 68.8 percent in the final frame, with Anthony scoring eight points to finish 6-of-8 in the second half.
“They played great,’’ James said. “They made some timely shots. They did a good job of switching everything and keeping bodies in front of us.’’
Dwyane Wade bagged 23 points on 11-of-15 shooting but was 0-for-6 from the free-throw line. And it was an invisible night for Chris Bosh (six points), who was outplayed by his former Toronto teammate, Andrea Bargnani.
Iman Shumpert, playing a whopping 43 minutes in Smith’s absence, didn’t score in the first half but nailed three 3-pointers in the third quarter to keep the Knicks right there, finished with 12 points and defended Wade well.
Raymond Felton racked up 13 points and a season-high 14 assists as the Knicks put five players in double-figures. Amar’e Stoudemire had 14 points and 11 rebounds, and Bargnani was solid on both ends (19 points).
“We started making shots in the second half and the 3’s opened up a lot of things, opened it up for Raymond to get in the paint,’’ said Anthony, who finished 12-of-24 from the field. “We’re trusting and believing in one another again, communicating. We’re attacking early from the jump ball. We’re putting complete games together now.’’
The Knicks were 2-16 when trailing at halftime, but rallied from a 48-43 deficit at intermission. Though James ate up Bargnani on a baseline drive and reverse dunk late in the third, it only sparked the Knicks as they closed the period on a 9-2 run.
Rookie Tim Hardaway Jr., with his father Tim Hardaway in attendance as a Heat scout, sparked the run with a massive putback dunk of a Stoudemire missed jumper to jolt the Garden crowd and put the Knicks up 75-69 with 12 seconds left in the third.
The Knicks made key defensive plays in the final period. Bargnani blocked Michael Beasley, leading to a fast-break bucket for Anthony and an 80-71 lead with 10:20 left. Stoudemire, playing sturdy down the stretch, put the Knicks up 11 points, scoring in the lane with 9:32 left.
It was a giddy locker room. As Hardaway left, he was asked if he’d see his father.
“I’m going to have dinner with him right now,’’ Hardaway said. “He should pay because we beat him.’’