NEW YORK — On a night when Steph Curry nearly couldn’t miss, Raymond Felton came up with a block that changed the course of the game.
With 1:30 remaining and the Knicks tied with the Golden State Warriors at 105, Felton jumped and blocked a Curry 2-point attempt from the right wing that helped the Knicks hold on for a wild 109-105 victory at Madison Square Garden
“It felt good because it was down the stretch when we really needed it,” Felton said. “He hits that shot and then maybe the game is different.”
Tyson Chandler took credit for yelling at Felton to anticipate the shot, but Felton said he heard a number of teammates shouting at him.
“Tyson called out, everybody was yelling it out,” Felton said.
Instead of Curry hitting another basket and giving Golden State the lead, J.R. Smith (26 points) hit an off-balance jumper on the other end and the Knicks led, 107-105.
After Jarrett Jack was whistled for traveling, Carmelo Anthony (team-high 35 points) hit another basket and the Knicks held on despite Curry’s NBA-season-high 54-point outburst. Curry went 11-of-13 from beyond the arc, setting a franchise record and coming up one shy of tying the NBA record. The Garden record of 61 points is held by Kobe Bryant.
“Once I started to see the three ball going down in transition and all sorts of spots over the floor, I knew it was going to be a good night,” said Curry, who set a new career-high one night after going for a season-high of 38 against Indiana.
“Beautiful to watch,” Knicks coach Mike Woodson said. “He’s got great genes. His dad was a pretty damn good player, too.”
Said Anthony: “There is nothing anybody can do. We have to hope he misses.”
Felton bore the brunt of Curry’s attack but he said he never wanted to switch off and have someone else cover him..
“I wasn’t going nowhere,” he said. “For what? He’s hot. Whoever got on him he was still scoring. It didn’t matter so I didn’t want to get off of him.”
Felton and the Knicks’ guards have been torched by a series of guards all season, from Kyrie Irving to Ty Lawson to Jrue Holiday to Jeff Teague.
Yet on this one critical possession, Felton came up with a huge defensive swat.
“Ray came up with a big play getting a block,” Anthony said.
The Knicks now take a modest two-game winning streak into Friday at Washington before Sunday’s mammoth showdown with Lebron and the Heat.
For now, they can thank Felton for giving them this win.
“It may not seem like we played good defense because a man came in here and had 54,” Felton said. “But I think overall we still played good defense as a team. We got stops when we really needed it.”
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Photo: Daily News
