NBA

Anthony, Shumpert lift Knicks over Mavs in road finale

DALLAS — The Knicks came to Texas a train wreck. They will leave the Lone Star State bagging their season’s two biggest wins and return home with one newly resuscitated player in Iman Shumpert and a healthy Carmelo Anthony.
For all their off-court finger-pointing after their heartbreaking two-point loss in Houston on Friday night, they didn’t carry the bad karma onto the American Airlines Center court. The Knicks wound up just one missed J.R. Smith 3-pointer away from sweeping the Texas Triangle.
Instead, they go a sturdy 2-1 after their victory Sunday night over the Mavericks when the Iman Shumpert Texas Revival tour arrived late, but right on time to save the Knicks in a 92-80 victory.
The Knicks (11-22) nearly blew a 14-point fourth-quarter lead, but captured the victory despite having center Tyson Chandler go down with an upper-respiratory infection in the first quarter.
“It’s big for us,’’ Shumpert said. “Hopefully the Garden will be crazy when we get home.’’

In 14 trips, it was only the fourth time the Knicks have posted a winning record on the Texas Triangle journey.
“It’s big time — I thought this trip was very productive,’’ said Anthony, who returned from a three-game absence in San Antonio and lit a spark. “We had a chance to go undefeated on this trip, but we’ll take 2-1. I don’t think anyone predicted we’d get two wins on this trip.’’
With the Knicks going cold and Anthony out of rhythm offensively since the first quarter, Shumpert entered with 3:18 left in the fourth quarter after Amar’e Stoudemire hurt his hip after taking an elbow from Jose Calderon.
With Anthony double- and triple-teamed, Shumpert scored the two biggest baskets after Dallas had cut the lead to six with 2:43 left on a Calderon trey. He snaked in for a reverse layup on a baseline drive past Dirk Nowitzki and buried a left-wing 3-pointer that drove the lead back up to nine points with 1:13 left.
“Melo found me when I was open, I think they just forgot about me and left me over there,’’ Shumpert said of his big 3-pointer. “I was just open. When you’re open, you have to knock down shots. [On the drive], I just saw Dirk standing straight up. He thought I was going to settle for the 3. That was my scouting report after the last two games.”
After storming San Antonio and Houston with 27 and 26 points, respectively, and making 14-of-16 3-pointers, it was hard to forget about Shumpert. But he had a slow start before saving his best for last Sunday and finishing with nine points.
Anthony, with no field goals in the second and third periods, wound up with 19 points on 6-of-16 shooting as five Knicks hit double figures. Anthony had seven rebounds, five assists and a nice block on a driving Monta Ellis in the third quarter.
And the dish to Shumpert on the game-sealing trey.
“We watched it at halftime and I told him how they were going to double -team me and it came to fruition at the end of the game,’’ Anthony said.
The Knicks outrebounded Dallas 47-34 and played the three games in Texas, especially in San Antonio, with more zeal than they’ve shown all season. They also got 47 bench points and held Nowitzki, the Mavs superstar, to a quiet 18 points.
“I thought our defense really set the tone early,’’ said coach Mike Woodson.
“We wanted to get the new year off on a positive note and we did,’’ said Dallas native Kenyon Martin, a key energizer with 14 points on 7-of-8 shooting and six rebounds. “It’s tough going to Texas.”
The Knicks also got a boost from Tim Hardaway Jr. (10 points) in the second half. On one play, he raced up court, made a runner in the lane and drew the foul. After the free throw, the Knicks led 74-62 with 8:46 left. Hardaway drained another 3-pointer putting the Knicks up 78-64 with 7:45 left before the Mavs stormed back.
“It’s been a successful trip,’’ Woodson said. “We lost a two-point game in Houston in which we had an opportunity to win. We played great in San Antonio against a great [Gregg Popovich] team. And to come in here and beat Dallas, it should be a boost.”
The Knicks took a commanding 52-35 halftime lead despite Chandler’s absence. Anthony had a 14-point first quarter and Andrea Bargnani scored 11 of his 13 points in the first half. Smith kept score correctly and finished with just seven points, but defended, grabbed seven boards and dished out three assists.
“Right now you can see how guys are responding and playing,’’ Anthony said. “It seems guys are having fun once again. We want to build on that and see what happens.’’

marc.berman@nypost.com