And the Oscar for Best Blowout Victory When Facing Dubious Historic Milestone goes to the Knicks.

Actor/presenter Samuel L. Jackson addressed Knicks superfan Spike Lee from the Hollywood stage at Sunday night’s Academy Awards.

“First of all, Spike, after 18 straight home losses, the Knicks won tonight,’’ Jackson said. “I repeat — the Knicks won tonight.’’

Lee yelled back, “We’re trying to tank.’’

Not Sunday. The Knicks took it to the Spurs with force and avoided tying the NBA record for futility with their 130-118 win. The 1993-94 Mavericks and their 19-game home losing streak still stand alone.

And so a winning roar rose up from the Garden that hadn’t been heard for nearly three months. Lance Thomas, who played like a courageous captain trying to save a sinking ship, held the ball at midcourt as the clock wound down and the Garden got loud.

“The fans are amazing, in general,’’ coach David Fizdale said. “So supportive with all the losses. The support I’ve been getting, the team has been getting, has been phenomenal. I commend our fans standing behind us.”

Point-guard-of-the-future Dennis Smith Jr. was a fast-paced spectacle all night, dishing out 13 assists with zero turnovers, scoring 19 points, blowing to the rim at will, lobbing alley-oops for Mitchell Robinson and nearly creating an international incident.

Smith came at Latvian David Bertans like a runaway Ferrari, crashed into him as he leaped and slammed the ball down over his head. It rimmed out as Smith won the Academy’s best blown poster dunk.

Emmanuel Mudiay was blazing-hot in the second quarter amid a 17-point half. Thomas, Robinson (15 points, 14 rebounds) and Damyean Dotson played with a vigor reminiscent of a different era. Dotson, who piled up 27 points with eight 3-pointers, knocked down DeMar DeRozan, who rose up angrily.
Dotson didn’t back down and players intervened.

The Knicks finally got out of their own way and embarrassed the Spurs (33-28) — still solid after all these years. Before the game, Fizdale said trading tactical moves with Spurs coach Gregg Popovich was like “coaching against Bobby Fischer.”

Before the game, Popovich said he had “a funny anecdote’’ to offer on what the Garden means to him. He coached against the Knicks the last time the Knicks made the Finals — in 1999.

Popovich said the true essence of the Garden hit him as he got off the team bus early Sunday night in the bowels of the old arena.

“There’s a deal they check your bag as you go through and a gentlemen said, ‘Right up this way, up a ramp,’ ’’ Popovich said. “I said, ‘No, we go through where the garbage is back there. We don’t go that way.’ We went through the garbage cans and took the elevator up because I like the smell. It makes me feel like it’s real basketball instead of everything pristine. I was looking for the old-school stuff.”

Take Popovich’s anecdote as a metaphor for these Knicks. The Knicks’ Garden games this season certainly have had an odor as they muddle through the garbage of a tanking season.

But that does not mean it will smell this way next season if the right things happen this summer in the lottery and free agency and if Smith, Dotson, Robinson and Kevin Knox (19 points, 10 rebounds) turn into forces.

The Knicks entered Sunday night having not won at home since Dec. 1. Asked if he’s trying different stuff to reestablish a home-court advantage, Fizdale said, “You mean like incense?”

Fizdale still has jokes amid the losing, finding the humor to laugh in the first-quarter when Smith and Knox accidentally tipped in a LaMarcus Aldrige miss.

Mike D’Antoni was the first Knicks coach to lament the Garden’s home-court disadvantage, feeling opponents come to Broadway looking to perform their best on the big stage.

According to sources, Fizdale believes the shootaround schlep does the franchise no favors. The team has its morning shoot in Tarrytown, then the Westchester residents have to battle the rush-hour commute to Manhattan.

There’s been a bunch of college and NHL teams who have tasted victory at the Garden since the Knicks last did. Until Sunday.

St. John’s, Florida, Oklahoma, Seton Hall, Columbia, Duke, Villanova, Providence and Georgetown had won here since Dec. 1st and 12 NHL teams.

And if you want to get technical, a lot of dogs who have won here, too, at the Westminster Dog Show this month., “Burns,” “Bono,” “Colton,” “Baby Lars,” “Bean” and “Wilma” were victors

And yet the arena remained packed amid the streak. Average attendance is 18,994 — 10th in the league.

It’s a phenomenal number for a franchise that has been mostly an embarrassment for 18 years. Since the 2001-02 season, the Knicks have the NBA’s worst aggregate record at 568-869 — a .395 winning percentage, recently sinking below Charlotte (.407).

Fizdale is right. Knicks fans have stayed amazing.