NEW YORK — Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony likened the franchise’s recent string of dysfunction to a cloud hanging over the team’s head, a cloud that got darker and heavier after New York’s 131-123 home loss to the Denver Nuggets on Friday — their fourth loss in a row and seventh in 10 games.
Carmelo Anthony says there’s ‘this cloud hanging over’ the Knicks right now
Knicks’ recent controversy includes a banned former All-Star, a clash between star player and team president, and seven losses in 10 games.
Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
“I think the other night, what happened, is just an accumulation of incident on top of incident on top of everything that’s going on with the New York Knicks organization right now,” Anthony told reporters after the game. “It’s just kind of this cloud hanging over us right now, and we just have to figure out a way to get out of it. I think you have to be in it, you have to be going through it in order to understand it.
“From the outside looking in, it looks bad, and it’s even worse when you’re going through it.”
New York has had its fair share of controversy in recent weeks. Just days after team president Phil Jackson publicly chided Anthony on his Twitter account, Knicks owner James Dolan banned former All-Star Knickerbocker Charles Oakley from entering Madison Square Garden.
The same night Dolan announced the permanent ban, Knicks fans chanted “Free Charles Oakley” and “We want Oakley” during the team’s matchup against the Nuggets.
If the chants were not a distraction, New York’s porous defense certainly was.
The Knicks allowed Nuggets big man Nikola Jokic to score a career-high 40 points on 74 percent shooting from the field. Six Denver players scored at least 13 points, and the Nuggets drained 16 of their 32 three-point attempts.
Knicks coach Jeff Hornacek obliterated his starting lineup’s effort and motives, accusing them of fishing solely for offense.
“Can’t guard anybody. Simple as that,” he said during his unusually short postgame press conference. “They should be embarrassed by the way they couldn’t guard anybody.
“So those guys are happy scoring their points. We’re going to lose every game.”
New York did score 123 points, highlighted by Anthony’s 33 points on 13-of-20 shooting — 21 of his points coming in the fourth quarter. But the Knicks could not get a stop down the stretch, and a last-ditch comeback effort fell flat.
“I mean, we all should be embarrassed just because of the way we’ve been playing, losing games,” he said. “Nobody likes to lose. Tonight it was bad. As players we’ve gotta take that upon ourselves and hold ourselves accountable for that. We have to do better, we have to do better on the defensive end.
“Tonight was one of those nights where we should be holding ourselves and each other accountable for that.”
Still, New York (22-33) isn’t completely out of the playoff picture. The Eastern Conference is top-heavy, and the Knicks, though 11 games below .500, are just 3.5 games behind the Detroit Pistons for the eighth seed in the conference.
“Only thing that’s keeping us kinda sane is the fact that when you look at the standings,” Anthony said. “When you look at that, it’s about putting a couple games together and anything can happen. So yeah, we’re still optimistic about making the playoffs and what we can do. We just have to start doing it on a consistent basis.”
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