MIAMI — Oh, shoot.
If the court is to be Raymond Felton’s sanctuary, he may want to find a different venue. And Carmelo Anthony may want to do the same — like Miami next season.
While free-agent-to-be Anthony did all he could Thursday to prevent the Heat from blowing the Knicks out to South Beach, he had little help. Certainly not from Felton, who looked anxious, distracted and errant in his first game since his gun-charge arrest Tuesday.
LeBron James donned a black mask and turned the Knicks black and blue with a powerful 31-point performance in the Heat’s 108-82 rout at AmericanAirlines Arena.
Felton looked to be pressing and shot 1 of 7 with five assists, two points and two turnovers in 31 shaky minutes.
“Of course there’s a lot going through my mind, but I’m on the basketball court, I’m out here playing,’’ Felton said. “There’s no excuses. The ball just didn’t go in the hole for me.’’
James, wearing a Hollywood-slasher-movie-style mask to protect his broken nose, departed with 6:29 left, the Heat up 99-70 after he made 13-of-19 shots — driving, dunking and hitting dagger jump shots.
After a brilliant 24-point first half, Anthony finished with 29 points in 35 minutes, saying before the game the season was like “Murphy’s Law’’ — everything that could go wrong as gone wrong.
Afterward, Anthony seemed despondent and disillusioned, saying his club “crumbled.’’
It was close for a half as the Knicks fought back from a 16-point deficit to trail 55-50 at halftime. But James spearheaded a 32-14 third-quarter carnage that left the Knicks for dead as they trailed 87-64 entering the fourth quarter.
“We didn’t bounce back from that,’’ Anthony said. “We kind of had control of our situation, making that run to close the half out, coming into halftime down five. I’ll take that. They made a run in the third and we just crumbled from there. It got out of hand. So many emotions going on at one time, it’s hard to narrow it down to one.’’
After the final buzzer, Anthony hugged a handful of the Heat players — likely wishing he was on the other side.
In the Knicks’ nearly hopeless playoff quest, they are 5 ½ games behind the eighth seed and 16 games below .500 at 21-37. They are 1-5 since the All-Star break and play host to the Warriors Friday.
“We miss one shot and we act like it’s the end of the world,’’ J.R. Smith said. “You can’t play basketball like that.’’
Asked how he thinks Anthony is handling the losing, Smith said, “It’s pretty much numbing to him now the way things are going. That’s not good for anybody.’’
The Knicks had beaten the Heat in January and had beaten them 3-of-4 times last season during that 54-win campaign.
“We played with a chip on our shoulder, played with more aggressiveness [in January],’’ Smith said. “Right now we’re not playing like a team fighting to make the playoffs.’’
They’re playing like a team that no longer belongs on the same court as the Heat.
“As far the gap goes, they’re hitting on all cylinders,’’ Anthony said. “Their Big 3 is playing extremely well, and you never know where it’s coming from now.’’
It was also the worst game as a pro for rookie Tim Hardaway Jr. in his first game in his native Miami, where his father starred. He was jittery and shot 2-for-15 (0 of 8 on 3-pointers) in a six-point disaster.
“I don’t know if coming back home had anything to do with it but he couldn’t make a shot,’’ coach Mike Woodson said.
Tyson Chandler had 19 points and 16 rebounds, but the Heat ruled the paint. Amar’e Stoudemire also was a dud (four points) and of no help to Anthony.
“Sixty-six points in the paint, we have to look at that,’’ said Anthony, adding it was the key to the rout.
In a symbolic sequence late third quarter, James took a pass in the lane, soared well above the rim and threw down a massive right-handed hammer dunk. On the ensuing possession, Felton answered by driving the lane and tossing up a sickly floater that hit the backboard, the rim and fell weakly into the hands of the Heat.
“You can’t give up,’’ Felton said. “That’s not the type of image we want to have — giving up. We got to stay positive. There’s still hope and a possibility.’’