Special to the AmNews
Carmelo Anthony will have to endure at least another seven weeks and 23 games before the agony he displayed Monday night subsides. The Knicks were trampled by the Atlantic Division-leading Toronto Raptors, 122-95, at Madison Square Garden, falling deeper into a state of surrender.
They were 24-34 before facing the Indiana Pacers on the road last night (Wednesday) and had lost 12 of their last 14 games. Making the playoffs is a fantasy for the Knicks, who were six and a half games behind the eighth-seeded Chicago Bulls after their loss to the Raptors, with four more teams also ahead of them in the Eastern Conference standings.
“At the end of the day, sometimes you gotta take the challenge,” lamented Anthony after scoring a team high 23 points against the Raptors. “As a team, we gotta figure out how to play better, how to be better out there on the court.”
“When you’re not kinda on the same page out there on the court,” Anthony explained, “it’s hard to communicate with one another or you’re not communicating with one another.”
What’s hard is envisioning Anthony in a Knicks uniform next season if the team’s circumstances, most prominently it’s personnel, doesn’t dramatically improve by the middle of this summer. He’ll turn 32 in May, nearing the end of his prime, and no closer to a title than when he became a Knick in February 2011.
Anthony has been underappreciated and undervalued by a plethora of Knick fans, as well as a sizable number of media members, who often focus on his flaws more than his substantial strengths. Nevertheless, Anthony has been the Knicks’ only valid upper-echelon player since the trade five years ago.
“I just need to go home and relax, decompress a little bit,” Anthony admitted, the losing clearly taking a mental toll on him. As he rapidly approaches the conclusion of his 13th season in the NBA, Anthony once again finds himself surrounded by marginal talent. The one bright spot being rookie Kristaps Porzingis, who, despite the enormous widespread hype, isn’t yet equipped to be Robin to Anthony’s Batman.
“It’s challenging to kinda stay strong and positive through all of this,” Anthony admitted.
No doubt, he has begun to chart his future.
