The Knicks couldn’t close out the Suns in regulation because of a controversial last-second foul on Kenyon Martin, but better late than never — the story of their new year.
The 2014 portion of the schedule continued to be “pret-ty, pret-ty good’’ — to quote Garden attendee Larry David — as their defense is becoming pretty, pretty great.
The Knicks repelled the pesky Suns 98-96 in overtime Monday night as they held Phoenix without a field goal during the five-minute session, to post their fifth straight win and improve to 6-1 since the ball dropped in Times Square. They moved into a tie for the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference.
“One of those games we lost early on in the year,’’ point guard Raymond Felton said.
The Suns, a surprising 21-16, shot 0-for-7 in overtime and even their magical lefty point guard Goran Dragic went cold with two straight in-close, driving misses in the final minute.
The Knicks (15-22), after holding a 14-point lead in the first half, fell behind by five with 4:50 left in the fourth before rallying.
“We lost some close games early in the year and I cost some of the games,’’ coach Mike Woodson said. “We didn’t do the right things. I think now in close games, we are starting to figure things down in the end. Even down five, when I called a timeout, I think guys felt good.’’
Though he missed a chance to seal the game with a missed jumper with 12 seconds left in the fourth quarter, Carmelo Anthony finished with 29 points, 16 rebounds and four assists. He shot 9 of 24, but hit a big baseline turnaround with 1:20 left in overtime to put the Knicks up 98-93. Anthony’s jumper to start overtime put the Knicks in the lead for good and Kenyon Martin’s putback gave them a four-point bulge.
“We won the game on the defensive end,’’ Anthony said. “Now, as a team mentally, we are a different type of team. We are starting to believe that when we do get down, we still have a chance to win the game. That is a good sign.’’
Indeed, it was the defense rising up, holding the Suns to 35.5-percent shooting and four points in overtime. Now they must face the Bobcats Tuesday in Charlotte. N.C., in the second leg of a back-to-back.
“When we got down five, our defense really stiffened and we made plays,’’ Woodson said.
The whirling dervish Dragic, often schooling Felton, dropped in 28 points but his pivotal drive on Andrea Bargnani with 1:01 left and the Knicks up three rolled out. Dragic tried again as he busted through the lane, and under duress, pump-faked and missed in close with 30 seconds left — one last defensive stand.
After another Anthony miss, the Suns had three seconds left for a miracle, down by three points. Felton (19 points) smartly used their foul to give with 2.5 seconds left and Channing Frye had two free throws. Frye didn’t do the right thing, however. He missed the first and should have intentionally missed the second to hope for a rebound. But he drained it and Anthony ran out the clock.
It didn’t look as if the Knicks would need overtime. Martin looked to have tied up Leandro Barbosa, appearing to grab the ball with 1.3 seconds left. But the referees didn’t see it that way and Barbosa drained two free throws through the Garden noise with the arena at fever pitch, tying the score 92-92.
“They called a foul but I thought he had his hands on top of the ball,’’ Woodson said.
Maybe even the officials have yet to catch on to the Knicks’ 2014 defense.
“I thought it was a jump ball, he said he got a little of the arm,’’ Felton said. “We got to go with the punches. But we got it done in overtime.’’
Felton thought he had won it after Anthony drove in the lane and fed him in the right corner. He drilled the 3-pointer to put the Knicks up 92-90 with 53 seconds left, but it didn’t hold.
The comedic portion of the night occurred in the second quarter. It was a series of bizarre events that led Woodson to walk to halfcourt and choose a Suns player from the bench to shoot two free throws to replace ejected Markieff Morris, who had a tiff with J.R. Smith.
Woodson chose the obscure 7-foot benchwarmer Slava Kravtsov, who rolled in the first free throw after it bounced off two parts of the rim. The next one missed badly as the Garden howled in delight. At the next whistle, Kravtsov was removed and got a big hand from the amused Garden crowd. The same big hand the Knicks received at night’s end.