Sports

FOUR CORNERS: Felton made Knicks fans forget about Lin in 18 games

This is where Linsanity took its meds last year.

The Knicks and their new hero Jeremy Lin roared into Miami on Feb. 23 of last season and the Heat said, “not on our court.” Miami’s defense tortured Lin into a 1-of-11, eight turnover performance in a 102-88 thrashing that had a sobering effect on the hysteria around the Knicks.

Fast forward to the offseason and the Knicks choosing a cheaper Raymond Felton over matching the offer sheet the Rockets made for Lin. Some Knicks fans were so upset by this that it was the last straw, the final time James Dolan would disappoint them and they would turn in the blue and orange for the black and white of the brand new Brooklyn Nets.

Will those former Knicks fans that flooded The Post’s comment section after Lin left for Houston please stand up? Five months later and it’s tough to remember those frustrating days. That’s cause back then it was tough to remember how good Felton had been for the Knicks a season earlier before being traded to the Nuggets in the Carmelo Anthony deal.

Felton has provided a month-long reminder with a dazzling start of the season that was puncuated by Thursday night’s 27-point, seven-assist gem against those same Heat the knocked Lin down a notch a season ago. It was a team effort, but on a night when the Knicks were without Anthony, Felton played the role of star player.

It’s what Lin did last year, except when Anthony returned from a groin injury the chemistry was not there. Was that Lin’s fault? Probably not necessarily, but on this version of the Knicks you better have chemistry with Anthony. And Felton has shown an ability to create opportunities for Anthony and be the benificiary of Anthony’s occasional generosity with the ball.

Anthony has reaped a lot of the praise from the Knicks’ best-in-the-East 14-4 start, but Felton (16 points, seven assists) is the difference between this year’s team and the one that lost in five games to the Heat in the first round of the playoffs.

And it’s unlikely he will be traded again this year.

How’s L.A. Mike?

Mike D’Antoni coached in New York and had to know what he was getting into with the Lakers.

But he has already found himself in the middle of contoversey over his handling of Dwight Howerd at the end of close games. In losses this week to the Magic and Rockets, the Lakers blew late leads when their opponents went to the Hack-a-Howard strategy and Superman tripped over his cape making 5-of-10 free throws in both instances.

D’Antoni refuses to take Howard out because of his status as a star player. And neither seem to be willing to admit that him missing critical free throws had anything to do with the defeats.

“Because they have no clue what they’re talking about,” D’Antoni told reporters of the critics after the loss to Houston. “It’s pretty simple. You don’t do that to a guy and he made his foul shots. He’s not the reason that our defense breaks down. He’s not the reason that stuff happens. He’s got to work through this.

“If you take him out now, then what are you going to do? Are you going to take him out all the time? You’ve got a player who’s going to be your franchise player, you don’t do that to him. And it’s not him that’s causing the problem.”

Close game, close enough for Suns fans?

The Suns set up a money-back promotion for Thursday night’s game against the Mavericks.

With Steve Nash now on the Lakers, the attendance in Phoenix has been sagging. So, in an interesting/desperate move the Suns offered their fans money back if they did not have fun at the game.

And it worked, as according to ESPN.com, they had their biggest crowd of the year with 17,517. Unfortunately, the Suns lost the game to the Dallas, 97-94. That, my friends, is a ready-made excuse for not having fun.

That makes sense, Steve

On Wednesday, ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith excused the Heat for their loss to the 2-13 Wizards because they were looking ahead to the Knicks on Thursday.

On Thursday, Smith slammed the Knicks for their inability to put away the 7-10 Bobcats — winning 100-98 on a J.R. Smith buzzer beater.

Based on the Knicks’ 20-point win, perhaps the Heat were looking forward to the next meeting between the two teams . .. on March 3.