THE INS & OUTS
Melo's potential game-winner circles the rim and falls away
There Carmelo Anthony sat, slumped on the scorer’s table, dejected and dazed in disbelief. Coach Jeff Hornacek threw an arm around Anthony’s shoulder. A few fans also showed the star forward support by patting his back.
The potential game-winning 3pointer already was being replayed in Anthony’s head. Already, he was wondering how the ball that rolled in had also rolled out — cementing the Knicks’ crushing, 107-105 loss to the Suns at Madison Square Garden — wondering what the slightest change in spin could have meant for the team and for the season.
He could hear nothing. He could think of nothing else.
“I was zonked out, trying to relive that play, relive that shot,” Anthony said. “That’s a tough one to kind of digest there. ... I was just thinking the ball was in. You couldn’t ask for a better look or a better shot than that. It felt good. … The shot felt good. … For it to come down to one play, that shot was in. That shot goes in, we’re singing a different tune at this moment.”
The song was the same, an ending as cruel as any because of the brief moment in which the ending appeared different. The ending was brutal because Anthony had spent most of Saturday night making sure another heartbreak- ing loss wouldn’t arrive.
Anthony was aggressive and efficient from the start, hitting his first five 3pointers — including a back-to-back pair to cut a 12-point deficit to six at halftime — and scoring 19 points in the first half.
Unlike in Thursday’s loss to the Wizards, when Anthony scored 25 points in the second quarter then faded in the second half, he was strong to start the third quarter, keeping Phoenix off balance by attacking the rim and passing around the perimeter
He finished with 31 points, seven rebounds and six assists, while playing nearly 41 minutes, scoring 30 or more points in his third straight home game for the first time in three years. But the 32-year-old was held without a point in the fourth quarter, limited to just one shot until the final look.
After the game, Anthony said he wasn’t worried about changes being made to the struggling team or feeling emotionally drained by the increasing suggestions he should waive his notrade clause.
He was wondering how the shot didn’t fall, wondering how he disappointed thousands in the Garden again.
“We got the play that we wanted, got the shot that we wanted, got the look that we wanted,” Anthony said. “It did everything but [go] in.”