SWEET MELO-DY: Carmelo Anthony is pumped up after making a shot in the final minute of regulation. (
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Owner James Dolan broke up the Knicks to get Carmelo Anthony 14 months ago for moments like this. Dolan will expect more of them in the playoffs, perhaps against the same club Anthony gunned down heroically in yesterday’s Garden matinee thriller.
Living up to his rep as one of the game’s best late-game assassins, Anthony was fearless in the final seconds and shot down the mighty Bulls. It is a trait LeBron James wished he owned.
With two right-wing 3-point daggers, Anthony saved Easter just as he saved Christmas against Boston with late-game heroics. This one was better, particularly since a loss would have put them out of playoff position. Instead, the victory launched them into seventh place.
In racking up his season-high 43 points, Anthony bagged his two 3-pointers with the clock running down — a game-tying bucket with 11.2 seconds left in regulation and the game-winner with 8.2 seconds left in overtime as the Knicks pulled off a 100-99 thriller against Chicago.
“This is one of the top,’’ Anthony said regarding career highlights. “Overtime. Easter Sunday. Everybody’s watching. This ranks as one of the top. At that point, I was thinking something had to go. If I take the shot and we make it, we win. If we don’t, we lose the game.’’
No fear. After he bagged the game-winner, Anthony hooted, “This is my house!’’
“It was mine today,” he said. “They were just talking some trash a little bit.’’
Not only did the Knicks (29-27) move one game ahead of the ninth-place Bucks, but they now are tied with the Sixers for the seventh seed, own the tiebreaker and would face Miami in the first round if the season ended today. If the Knicks finish eighth, it will almost certainly be Knicks-Bulls in Round 1. The Knicks play in Chicago tomorrow, then Milwaukee on Wednesday.
“It was a great atmosphere,’’ Anthony said. “That’s how the Garden is supposed to be. This was a playoff-type game. We might play these guys in the playoffs if we keep going and get that [No. 8] seed. So this was a big statement game, big win for us.’’
Anthony hit his first five shots when the Knicks built a ridiculous 27-6 lead late in the first quarter. He cooled off, the Bulls rallied, but he wound up shooting 16-of-31 — 4-of-5 from 3-point range — and being the hero.
“Unbelievable,’’ said Knicks interim coach Mike Woodson, who is now 11-3. “They refused to give in.’’
The first heroic Anthony triple — rattling in a 25-footer over Taj Gibson — capped a Knicks comeback from 10 down with 3:30 left. The Knicks got help as the Bulls missed four straight free throws in the final 34 seconds — two by Luol Deng, two by Derrick Rose, whose return from a groin injury was filled with rust (29 points, 8-of-26)
With the Knicks down 99-97 in OT, Anthony elected against driving on Deng for the tie. Instead, he lofted it up again from the right side — 8.2 seconds left and it was bliss.
The possession was kept alive by irrepressible center Tyson Chandler, who had 16 rebounds, 10 on the offensive glass. He batted another J.R. Smith brick out to the perimeter. Smith made a good save in tapping the ball over to Steve Novak, who then found Anthony on the right wing.
“That was probably the best shot I was going to get,’’ Anthony said. “If I drove, I probably would have gotten bumped and had to take a messed-up shot. I didn’t just want to go to the hole and throw something crazy up. My best shot was to pull up for three. They were playing for me to drive, so my best shot (in OT) was to pull up.’’
They needed every one of Anthony’s 43 — his regular-season high in a Knicks uniform. Amar’e Stoudemire and Jeremy Lin are out and Smith’s shot was pitiful as the club survived his 6-of-22 shooting day.
Novak, with his parents making their first trip to the Garden, had an off game, too, missing a huge left-wing 3-pointer with 29 seconds left and the Knicks down 3. The ball seemed to be down before rimming out. Novak had his worst game since getting in the rotation, going scoreless on 0-for-4 shooting.
“Back and forth, we’re out of it, then we’re in it,’’ said Novak, the NBA’s leader in 3-point percentage. “The way we got it is why this is so big.’’