NBA Preview: Anthony to play against the Knicks, amidst rumours he might soon join the Knicks
It was among one of the hottest NBA rumours before this season started that Carmelo Anthony, known as Melo, will join New York Knicks soon. The New York Knicks might have found this idea very tempting after losing five games in a row.
However, the New York Knicks will have to face both Anthony and the Denver Nuggets.
The New York Knicks will play at Pepsi Center against the Denver Nuggets, who recently defeated the unbeaten Los Angeles Lakers.
The rumours about Melo joining the Knicks must have some roots because the 26 year old recently refused to sign a three year extension contract with the Nuggets. Ever since June, 2010 rumour has it that Melo might be headed towards New Jersey and then New
York because he refused to change his mind about not signing the three year contract extension with the Nuggets.
New Orleans guard Chris Paul added fuel to the fire after he raised a toast at Anthony’s New York wedding. He toasted the idea of him and Melo joining the Knicks team to form a super trio along with Amare Stoudemire, who is already a Knicks star. Thank God
he was not the best man at Melo’s wedding otherwise we all know what the best man speech would have been all about.
The Denver Nuggets have had consecutive wins (5-5) and have dropped three of four matches. They were also defeated by the Phoenix Suns on Monday 100-94.
The Nuggets were in the lead by as many as 15 points in the start and later by eight in the beginning of the fourth quarter. After that they were outscored by the exuberant Suns over the final 10 minutes.
Anthony, who seemed to be rejoiced by his recent marriage, was an odd man out even after the defeat with a career high 22 rebounds and 20 points that made up his second straight double-double.
"This is a game we should have won and we let it slip by us", a rather aggravated Nuggets forward centre, Al Harrington said, “We've got to get better closing out games”.
Anthony has been in the limelight in his previously played home game when the Nuggets defeated the unbeaten Los Angeles Lakers to a home win 118-112. He scored 32 points and grabbed 13 rebounds for the Nuggets. He is speeding up his average and now he has
an average of 26.3 points and 10 rebounds.
He is always feared whenever he confronts the New York Knicks and the last time he played against them he scored his career high 50 points in a win over them 128-125. Al Harrington in the same game scored 41 points off the bench.
Currently, Anthony has an average of 33.4 points on 55.1 percent shooting, that he accomplished in his last nine games against the Knicks (3-7), and 35 during his last four home matchups.
All New York has got to do is to learn some tricks to keep Anthony at bay. They will have to keep him at a good arm’s length if they want to avoid their fourth consecutive loss in a rather scary Denver.
What the Knicks need?
The Knicks should concentrate on their shooting as they missed 1/8 of their shots in a 104-96 loss to the Houston Rockets on Sunday. Amare Stoudemire scored 25 points for the Knicks, three of which he scored during the final period.
It was rather useless to score at that point as his team was already being booed by the audience.
“Obviously nobody wants to lose and everybody is pressing", said Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni. "The reality is we're 3-7 and we've got a game on Tuesday. So you just try to figure out what's going wrong, how can you get a little bit better".
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