NBA

Melo has double the fun in Knicks’ triumph over Magic

Through 16 games, Carmelo Anthony averaged 22 shots a game for the Knicks. The Knicks were 3-13.

“Me scoring 30 wasn’t working,” Anthony said.

So for two nights in a row, Anthony barely broke double figures in attempts. He tried 12 against the Nets. He attempted 10 against the Magic on Friday.

“For me, I wanted to do something a little different to see if it worked,” said Anthony.

Oh, it worked all right. The Knicks won both games in resounding fashion, slamming the Nets by 30 with six scorers in double figures and crushing Orlando, 121-83, with seven double-figure scorers.

“There’s going to be nights he’s going to get 30 and there’s going to be nights he’s going to get 40,” coach Mike Woodson said. “But I’ve always said since I’ve been here I want a team offensively where you just don’t know where it’s going to come from.”’

And with Anthony looking to get everybody involved, the Knicks put together their two best games of the young season. Anthony said whether it will continue remains to be seen — and he knows he’ll be needed at some point to resort to putting everybody on his shoulders.

“There’ll be a time again where I need to step up and score those points again but the last couple games, the guys stepped up big time and it just allowed me to make them better and they made me better,” said Anthony, who finished with 20 points, 11 rebounds and four assists against the Magic — after recording 19 points, 10 rebounds and six assists against Brooklyn on Thursday.

Against the Nets, Anthony didn’t even attempt his first shot until 4:33 remained in the first quarter. He got far more involved against Orlando — he launched six of his shots in the first quarter — but then he tried just four the rest of the way.

So for two games, averaging 11 shots and getting everyone else involved was fine all around.

“He’s always trying to, but anytime we’re struggling to score the ball, he takes it upon his own shoulders and that’s what a superstar does,” Iman Shumpert said. “We know what he’s doing and we trust his judgment.”

Hey, whatever works.

“We’ll take these two wins the way we’ve been winning these last two games, defensively, offensively, everybody is on the same page,” Anthony said. “Everybody is on their job, what they have to do and we’ve been winning.”