Carmelo Anthony is just grasping for answers at this point. The New York Knicks season continued down its disastrous path Tuesday night with an ugly loss to the Detroit Pistons, and the Knicks star is struggling to figure out why things have gone south.
Frustration mounting for Carmelo Anthony following another Knicks loss
Melo was none too pleased with the officiating after the Knicks lost their third straight game on Tuesday night.
Following the 92-86 loss to the Pistons, Anthony vented some of his frustrations, via Peter Botte of the New York Daily News:
“I thought effort was there, at times. I don’t know. We’re losing. That’s a messed-up feeling, a hurt feeling. Got to figure it out. That’s the only thing I can say about this,” a flabbergasted Anthony said following the Knicks’ third straight defeat. “I mean, it’s hard to take anything positive out of the way we’ve been playing these games. You know, it’s kind of - it’s not really making sense to me right now as far as what’s really going on, why we’re not in sync with one another, why we’re just losing basketball games.
“It’s kind of hard to put a finger on at this point.”
Not only was Anthony frustrated with his team’s own play against the Pistons, but he also took issue with the officiating. The forward was in foul trouble all night, jawed with officials throughout and was finally hit with a technical foul in the third quarter after complaining about a non-call:
“It’s kind of hard when you’re out there dealing with that, thinking things should be going your way and it’s not, thinking something should be called and it’s not,” Anthony said.
Anthony scored 11 points in the fourth quarter and finished with a game-high 25, but he shot just 8-of-20 and turned the ball over seven times. The poor shooting has been a theme all year for Anthony, as he’s making just 42.4 percent of his shots, more than three percent worse than his career average.
The Knicks currently sit at 3-7 and are 1-5 at Madison Square Garden. Numerous issues have cropped up at the outset of the year, ranging from Anthony’s shooting struggles to Tyson Chandler’s injury to Mike Woodson’s inability to find effective lineup combinations.
Chandler's injury isn't the only one affecting the Knicks at this time, with Metta World Peace and Raymond Felton also nursing injuries as well. Due to these health woes as well as the inconsistent play, Woodson has used five different starting lineups in just 10 games thus far.
With the Eastern Conference in such disarray, the Knicks don't really have to worry about falling out of the playoff race anytime soon. Things should improve when Chandler comes back to stabilize the interior defense, which has taken a hit with Andrea Bargnani getting major minutes in the middle.
But for now, things are a mess in New York. Woodson is drawing the ire of the Knicks faithful, and the calls for his head may grow even louder Wednesday night when the Indiana Pacers come to town. Perhaps he becomes the fall guy for this bad start, although it's hard to see that accomplishing much. The Knicks just have to ride out this rough patch and hope things turn around sooner rather than later.
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