Carmelo Anthony Says It’s Too Early to Discuss His MVP Chances

The New York Knicks won a thriller in Brooklyn last night on Jason Kidd’s three-pointer. But it was Carmelo Anthony’s heroics (45 points) that put them in a position to eke out the victory. After the game, ‘Melo’s teammates and coaches continued to use MVP and Anthony in the same breath, which he’s not quite ready to do this early on in the season. Per the NY Daily News: “According to Jason Kidd, his superstar teammate “had every right to take the last shot” in a tie game in the final half-minute of play. But Anthony, whose 45 points in 44 minutes represented his season-high, drew a double-team and kept the ball moving. It eventually found its way from Raymond Felton to Kidd for a tie-breaking three and the final points of the Knicks’ 100-97 win Tuesday in Brooklyn. ‘Hey, he’s an MVP guy. He’s playing at such a high level,’ Mike Woodson said of Anthony after the Knicks improved to 16-5, tops in the Eastern Conference. ‘He got double-teamed, and he sacrificed the ball when that happened. Boy, to me, that says a lot, because he’s got to do that. The guys around him, he trusts those guys to make shots … What can you say. He’s had some pretty good games under my tutelage, but I just think tonight he wanted it so badly, man.’ […] ‘I didn’t want to (lose). I felt like the last game we played here we kind of beat ourselves,’ Anthony said, referring to the Knicks’ 96-89 overtime loss here on Nov. 26. ‘It feels great to win back over here in Brooklyn. I can’t lie. When you’re out there, with that energy, that feeling, when you hear ‘Brooklyn’ like that, for me personally that’s a great feeling … I was born here and there’s a lot of excitement here.’ Anthony also heard several MVP chants from a virtually split crowd. That thought was echoed by Woodson and teammate Tyson Chandler, who praised Anthony for ‘his growth and maturity as a leader right now.’ … ‘It’s early. We’re not even through December yet,’ said Anthony. ‘It’s still early for us, it’s still early for me. We’re still getting better as a team. We’re still learning how to play basketball as a team and how to win tough games like this. At the end of the season, if that’s it, then we’ll see.'”