Melo not alone in his frustration
Carmelo Anthony, usually and virtually always the Knicks’ player spokesman, had said a lot the night before. So he hurried past a smaller than normal gathering of reporters and proclaimed himself quotefree for the day Tuesday. “I’m off today,” Anthony said. So that left others to address what undoubtedly had been Anthony’s frustrationfueled comments after Monday’s 12295 wipeout loss to Toronto at the Garden, a loss that left the once .500 Knicks at a miserable 10 games under .500 (2434).
“We just got to want to do it,” Anthony said Monday, among other things. “We got to take it upon ourselves individually, take the challenge as a group.
“It’s frustrating. You’re trying to get back but you dig yourself a hole. You look up, everything’s got to go your way at that point. You work so hard to kind of make a run and do something. You look up and you’re still down 15, 16,” he said. Teammates seemed to understand. “I think that frustration is inside of all of us. Everybody’s frustrated,” said Kristaps Porzingis, who repeatedly stressed the team is staying together, trying to find a collective solution. “We all have our frustrations, our individual frustrations, and then as a team, we’re frustrated, obviously.
“But we are staying together, trying to find a way to win games. We’re trying to find how to do things right and be consistent. We’re working on the things we’re not doing well now.” You know, everything. “We were obviously frustrated after games like [Monday],” Porzingis said. “But I wouldn’t say like we’re not talking to each other. We are we are communicating. We’re trying to find a solution for this.”
Langston Galloway, who could be in line to start at point guard if Kurt Rambis’ suggestion that a lineup change on the horizon is more than discussion, said everyone feels Anthony’s misery. And losing is the reason.
“We’re all frustrated,” Galloway said. “We definitely don’t want to lose any games and don’t like it. It’s always tough when you lose games like that, especially when you’re up.”
And Rambis approved of Anthony’s position. Better to be frustrated and ticked over losing than carefree. He does not see an acceptance of losing.
“I see frustration. We’re all frustrated. We can’t accept this,” Rambis said. “For the organization, for our team, ourselves as individuals, the coaching staff. We can’t accept losing. I want players to be angry. I want players to be frustrated. That’s the right attitude to have.
“If guys aren’t playing, they should be frustrated that they are not playing. We’re not winning now, so they have to be believing in their hearts and minds that, ‘I could be doing a better job out there on the court,’ ” Rambis said, perhaps referring to rookie Jerian Grant. “Those are the kinds of players you want on your team. You don’t want guys that just roll over and accept this losing.”