Jared Zwerling and Ian Begley 11y

Notebook: Melo's mark; Prigioni's progress

How do you score at least 20 points in 30 straight games?

To Carmelo Anthony, it's pretty simple.

"You've just got to be patient, take what the defense gives you," Anthony said.

The New York Knicks star set a franchise record on Wednesday by scoring 20 points against the Orlando Magic. It was the 30th straight game in which Anthony had at least 20 points.

The previous mark was set by Richie Guerin in the 1961-62 season. Patrick Ewing had at least 20 in 28 straight games in the 1989-90 campaign.

"It makes it fun out there when you know you’re looking forward to something, when you know you have a chance to break a record. Records are made to be broken," said Anthony, whose Knicks have gone 19-11 over that stretch.

PROPS FOR PABLO: If there's one guy on the Knicks who makes the most of his minutes, it's Pablo Prigioni. Tonight, within 39 seconds of checking into the game at the start of the second quarter, the backup point guard nailed a 3-pointer. Later, toward the end of the third, he knocked down another 3 almost 20 seconds after checking in. Then he had a head fake into a driving layup, a dish to Amar'e Stoudemire for a dunk and then another 3-pointer.

Prigioni finished the game with 11 points in just 16 minutes. He was 3-for-6 from downtown -- his fourth straight game with at least two 3-pointers.

But he made his biggest impact on defense. No Magic point guard penetrated the lane from the third period to midway through the fourth quarter, thanks to Prigioni.

"That's what he does," Iman Shumpert said. "I love being in there with Pablo because when he does that, it's easy for me to play off somebody like that. How he's, at the age he is, still doing that, that puts a smile on my face to see him go out and do that."

That kind of perimeter defense was nonexistent in the first quarter, when Jameer Nelson went off for 12 points.

"I expect everybody to defend," Mike Woodson said. "I'm not getting that out of 'Rook' [Shumpert]. James White I thought started out soft in terms of defending. I mean, it just becomes contagious. It starts out front with the guards. It starts with Raymond, 'Rook' and our three in terms of our perimeter. And we just got to get better. We're playing on our heels."

SIX IN THE MIX: Wednesday night marked the first time since Dec. 6, when the Knicks beat the Miami Heat, they had six scorers in double figures. They have accomplished the feat four times this season. In their opener on Nov. 2, they had seven players reach at least 10 points. Interestingly, in every game during their 6-0 start, at least four guys scored in double figures. The moral of the story? Ball movement pays off, especially when your starting point guard Raymond Felton has a superb floor game (15 points, 9 assists and 0 turnovers). The Knicks had a season-high 30 assists and only nine turnovers. … Steve Novak snapped a mini drought with three fourth-quarter 3-pointers. Coming into the game, Novak had just one 3-pointer in his previous four games. He missed his first four attempts on Wednesday.

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