Carmelo Anthony had it wrong. The Nets are the lone “laughingstock’’ in the five boroughs.
Really, that is the only takeaway coming out of the Knicks’ wild party at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center where the orange-and-blue fans chanted merrily and cheered heartily as their club built a 35-point lead early in the fourth quarter. The black-and-white clad Nets fans exited quietly.
Even the brief “Fire Ja-son!’’ chant in the late stages seemed to be a spoof of Nets coach Jason Kidd by giddy Knicks fans.
In breaking their disgraceful nine-game losing streak, the Knicks played with a joie de vivre that was missing during the skid.
Anthony, after Sunday’s awful New Orleans loss, said the team needed the three-day break to “get our mentality right.’’
It happened. The break got them refreshed, refocused. They all knew they were playing for Mike Woodson’s job. Owner James Dolan had started to move off his vote of confidence in Woodson expressed in a Q & A with The Post’s Mike Vaccaro 2 ½ weeks ago.
Woodson buys himself some time by romping in the intracity rival that Dolan obsesses over. Word is, he watches a Nets game with the same fervor as a Knick game.
Now the test comes Friday night against the lowly Magic. It would seem the typical trap game for the Knicks after playing their rivals on national TV. But these Knicks are on a seven-game Garden losing streak, having not won there since opening night vs. Milwaukee, and realize every game is vital until Woodson is out of the woods.
“We got to go home and play well in front of our fans,’’ Woodson said. “That’s important. It’s never been about me, but the fans of New York and our team. It’s important we go home and validate what we do [Thursday night].’’
Only because the Atlantic Division is a sham and Tyson Chandler could be less than two weeks from returning, the Knicks could be on track to win their second straight division title and earn the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference. How crazy is that to say about a 4-13 club? If things break certain ways, they could be a tied in the loss column for the division lead Sunday if they beat first-place Boston (8-12).
The Nets look cooked and could well stay mired in major injury/coaching trouble this season.
Three other Knicks observations from Thursday:
1. Anthony, such a superior talent, actually trusted his teammates, even Amar’e Stoudemire, who will try to play a back-to-back for the first time vs. Orlando. Anthony (19 points, 10 rebounds, six assists) is so much better when he doesn’t force the action. He didn’t take a shot attempt until 7:30 into the contest and the Knicks already ahead by double digits.
2. Iman Shumpert was the energizer bunny, finding his 3-point shot (5-of-7) but as importantly whipping the ball around the horn, grabbing tough rebounds and breaking out of the pack to jack up the pace. They passed the ball with glee in Brooklyn and point guard Raymond Felton originated it all.
“Felton did a good job pushing the pace,’’ Woodson said. “Our pace was a lot of quicker tonight.’’
Shumpert must love Brooklyn because he really had his swagger on. That swagger sometimes makes him appear too cocky for the coaching staff. They should let him be who he is — in my eyes, a potential All-Star candidate in this league in a couple of years.
3. Center Andrea Bargnani was tough and full of finesse. He’s a vastly underrated post defender and blocks more shots than Chandler does. Somehow, Kidd’s Nets didn’t put Bargnani in enough pick-and-roll situations on defense, where Bargnani doesn’t have the lateral quickness to keep up.
But for Bargnani to get in Garnett’s face in the end, with the team up 30, was a potential turning-point moment for this team’s psyche. Referee Joey Crawford made Bargnani a hero to his team by ejecting him. Bargnani didn’t seem too aware of Garnett’s Honey Nut Cheerios history with the Knicks, but he’s been around long enough to know Garnett prizes himself as the league’s trash-talk king.
If it were a close game, Bargnani might not have put himself in that position, but he had the luxury of giving Garnett an earful — in English, he claims. Bargnani also said Garnett was doing as much talking, just more surreptitiously. The big Italian even showed a sense of humor in the locker room afterward, smiling and kidding about being asked so many questions on the subject. The Bargnani-Garnett rematch is set for Jan. 20 at the Garden.
“It was like old times again,’’ Woodson said, referring to last season’s 54-28 club. “Anyone that got on the floor gave us something.’’