Carmelo Anthony Struggling to Adjust to New Knicks Offense
by Marcel Mutoni / @marcel_mutoni
The New York Knicks lost a tough one in Dallas last night, as Carmelo Anthony was held to a ghastly total of just six points. Afterwards, he admitted that he’s having trouble with the new way his team runs their offensive sets.
‘Melo isn’t entirely sure of his place in the new alignment, something his coach admits is a struggle for everyone at the moment, and Anthony says it’s been tough to adjust to not having the ball in his hands so much.
From the NY Post:
Anthony scored 6 points in a 2-of-12 disaster and sat and watched the second unit nearly steal a win over the defending champion Mavericks. As a capper, Anthony bolted the locker room early, heading for the bus, saying to a reporter, “Not tonight.” Fifteen minutes later, Melo returned to the locker-room area to speak to a small group of writers and admitted adjusting to the new alignment has him confused on the court.
The Knicks fell to the Mavs, 95-85, last night to go 2-4 since Melo returned to a new structure created by Jeremy Lin, whose emergence stoked a 7-0 spurt with Melo missing most of those games with a groin injury. “I think any time you go from the early part of the season and having the ball and distributing and now waiting for it to come to me, it’s quite an adjustment for myself,” said Anthony.
As has been the case lately for the Knicks, it was the backups (with the help of Amar’e Stoudemire and his 26 points) who led the way late in the game, as they nearly stole a win from the Mavericks with Carmelo Anthony watching for much of the comeback.
With so many new players on the roster, and so little time to prepare in this lockout-shortened season, it was inevitable that the Knicks’ offense wouldn’t easily gel. That being said, as a leader Carmelo must overcome his frustrations, and figure out a way to get his team back on track.
Read the SLAMonline Discussion Rules before posting.