The question answered itself.

Did Carmelo Anthony want the ball at the end of the game?

Anthony gave a look that suggested the religious affiliations of popes, hygiene habits of bears and the endgame desire of any and all stars.

“I think that is a rhetorical question,” Anthony said of his spectator status on the game’s final shot in the Knicks’ sixth straight defeat, a 97-95 setback to the Magic Wednesday at the Garden. “Of course I want it. Whether he could have got it to me or not, that’s a different question.”

Pablo Prigioni’s inbounds pass with 3.5 seconds remaining and the Knicks down by that fateful two points ended up with J.R. Smith who had little choice, but that’s a whole different story.

And so Anthony — who scored 27 points on 10-for-17 shooting despite foul trouble — defended primarily by rookie Aaron Gordon, became a spectator.

“We were focused in on Carmelo and J.R. on that final play,” Magic coach Jacque Vaughn said. “We really wanted to get the ball out of Carmelo’s hands.”

And so Anthony was left to trod over the same ground he has worked recently. Yes, it’s gloomy now, but life as we know it will get better for the Knicks. He thinks that. He hopes that.

“Losing is tough. I thought this was a game we could have went out there and got tonight, kind of get that monkey off our back, so this is a tough one to swallow,” Anthony said.

“I don’t want to keep saying the same thing, but we’ve got to stay with it. I have to keep saying the same thing. I don’t want to. Hopefully we get a chance to turn this thing around, we have another opportunity Friday [against Utah],” said Anthony.

Anthony became a spectator of a different sort during a key fourth-quarter stretch when he picked up his fifth foul with 5:41 remaining and the Knicks down one. He returned at 3:41 with the Knicks down four. That was a tough time for Anthony who relayed what went through his mind.

“To stop fouling, regardless of if I thought I fouled him or not, stop fouling,” Anthony said. “I have to do a better job, we have to do a better job, of not fouling and playing so it kind of takes our aggression away. It’s something we have to be smart about, I have to be smart about.”