Carmelo Anthony continues to be a solid secondary scorer to J.R. Smith.
Yeah, that’s right. That’s how nuts this J.R. Smith surge — and Knicks surge — is getting.
Smith wouldn’t let the Knicks lose this one as they reached seventh heaven by jumping on the woeful Bobcats early. The Knicks (45-26) built a 22-point lead in the opening 10 minutes and held on for a 111-102 victory Friday night for their first seven-game winning streak under coach Mike Woodson.
Smith became the first NBA player since 1990 to score 30-plus points off the bench in three straight games. The Sixth Man of the Year favorite notched another 37 last night — 23 in the first half.
Smith sank 12 of 18 buckets, many on driving shots, and hit 11 of 12 free throws. Smith beat the Bobcats in Charlotte earlier this season on a buzzer-beater, but last night he beat them up all night long.
“Last time I was going like this, I was in high school,’’ Smith said.
Smith scored 35 against Memphis and 32 in Boston in his previous two outings. The last player to go for a 30-point bench hat trick was Ricky Pierce 23 years ago. Smith got to 30 by hitting three straight free throws with 1.2 seconds left in the third quarter. Then he clinched the win with a baseline runner with 1:00 left after the Bobcats rallied from 30 points down to get it to seven with 1:20 left.
“He’s focused, locked in, dialed ’’ said Anthony, who dropped in 32 points of his own but shot 11 of 28. “His confidence is sky high and we’re following his lead. I’ve played in the league 10 seasons, maybe nine of them with J.R., and I’ve never seen him play the way he’s playing now.’’
The Knicks led by 30 points in the second quarter, fell asleep in the second half as Michael Jordan’s Bobcats made their rally. The Knicks also led Memphis Wednesday by 30 points before letting the Grizzlies get to within four points with one minute left.
“You like to win big,’’ Woodson said, “but a win is a win. We’re not closing it out the way we should. I don’t know if it’s fatigue with the older guys.’’
The Knicks won seven straight games last season, but that was under former coach Mike D’Antoni and launched Linsanity.
“We’re in a great groove,’’ Smith said. “We are starting to jump on teams early.
“There’s a confidence everyone is playing with, believing in one another, trusting one another on both ends of the court,’’ Anthony said. “We got back to playing the way we did when we started the season.’’
Smith had fallen behind in the Sixth Man of the Year rankings, but now he has got to be the lead candidate.
“He’s just getting to the rim and living at the foul line,’’ Iman Shumpert said.
“He and I love golf and he’s putting the ball well,’’ Jason Kidd said. “He’s making his 10-foot putts. He’s inside-out.’’
Charlotte fell behind by 30 points in the second period and to 17-55 under first-year coach Mike Dunlap, who ran St. John’s last season. Jordan is 50 but after this Bobcats’ season, he may feel he’s going on 60.
Anthony scored his 32 points in 35 minutes, while Raymond Felton added 18.
The Knicks’ next two games will be greater tests to their winning streak — tomorrow at home against Boston and Tuesday in the Miami showdown against the Heat. The win streak began on March 18 when they squeezed out the final game of their West Coast trip in Utah after losing the first four games.
Smith had a terrible playoff series versus Miami last spring and has fared poorly against the Heat this season. Tomorrow and Tuesday he’ll get to prove he can do this consistently against the elite.
The Bobcats didn’t do much defending as the Knicks took a 69-47 halftime lead on 62.5 percent shooting. They notched 38 points in the first quarter — their second-highest first-quarter total this season.
The Knicks were ridiculously hot in the first quarter and, as expected, built a giant lead of 22 points, 37-15 after 10 minutes.
In the opening two minutes, Felton, Anthony and Shumpert hit back-to-back-to-back 3-pointers. After a Shumpert interception, Felton raced in for his first dunk in more than two years. The bench got a kick out of it, players up on their feet laughing.
It was that kind of blowout night.