Carmelo Anthony Has Played 59 Games with the Knicks, But Everyone Already Wants Him Out of Town
By Jason McIntyre
Twenty-seven last year when his center was mostly Ronny Turiaf and his point guard was mostly Raymond Felton.
Thirty-two this year, but only 12 with the team’s new point guard, Jeremy Lin.
Keep all of that in mind before devouring this, assuming you actually subject yourself to clicking on the links:
Source: Anthony, at odds with D’Antoni, plots Knicks exit [NY Post]
Why the panic? Is it the six-game losing streak? Well, if you looked at the schedule at the All-Star break, you knew they were in store for a rigorous 10-game stretch.
New York had Boston beat in the Garden two Sundays ago, but since Paul Pierce hit that 3-pointer and Boston prevailed in overtime, New York hasn’t recovered. The Knicks made a run at Dallas, but collapsed late. Without Chandler, they were blown out in San Antonio, and didn’t even pretend to play defense in Milwaukee. Reeling, they got their asses kicked at home by 1st place Philly, and then they simply got beat by a better Chicago team that killed New York’s frontline on the offensive glass.
So the still-finding-themselves Knicks, during this six-game skid, have lost to five playoff teams (three of whom are currently in 1st place in their respective division). Essentially, the exact opposite of what happened during their torrid February winning streak – against inferior teams – is happening now in the media.
Beat bad teams – they Knicks are back! They can rise to 3rd in the East! Jeremy Lin could get in the MVP discussion!
Lose to the best teams – the Knicks stink! Fire the coach! Trade Melo!
Breathe.
The trade Melo stuff is silly. (Unless you want to swap him for Dwight Howard. I’d listen to that.) They’re not firing D’Antoni.
They’re a work in progress. D’Antoni is still wondering what works and what doesn’t. He tinkered with Jeremy Lin and Baron Davis at the same time against Chicago. He’s still trying to get Harrellson into the rotation. He doesn’t seem to know how to use Fields vs. Shumpert in the 2nd halves of games. Then there’s Amare’s defensive struggles, trying (hopefully) to get Linn more pick-and-roll with Melo, how much to play Novak, and how to get JR Smith into rhythm …
As long as New York gets the 6th seed in the playoffs and avoids Miami/Chicago, I still like their chances to advance.