Carmelo Anthony returns to Denver with Knicks in 'dark space'
Knicks' Carmelo Anthony stretches during the first half of Game 3 of the Eastern Conference semifinals. (May 11, 2013) Credit: AP
Carmelo Anthony is in better physical shape than the last time he returned to the Mile High City, but mentally, he's at one of his all-time lows.
"This is one of the toughest stretches I've ever been," Anthony said at the Friday morning shootaround. "I've never lost seven straight games like this. Never been in a situation like where we have to figure it out the way we have to figure it out right now. It's probably one of my worst stretches."
The Knicks try to avoid making it eight straight when they end their four-game trip Friday night against the Nuggets. All things considered, another loss and to his old team could send Anthony off the deep end.
Earlier in the trip, it appeared Anthony was being singled out when Amar'e Stoudemire and Iman Shumpert said the Knicks were losing because of a lack of ball movement.
Anthony seemed annoyed after Mike Woodson brought up those remarks in practice. Anthony knew the perception was it was directed at him. But he said lack of defense was the issue. Then after Wednesday's loss to the Clippers dropped the Knicks to 3-11, Anthony said they are "in a dark space."
This isn't how Anthony expected this season to go after the Knicks won 54 games and the Atlantic Division last year. But this is a different team.
If it continues to spiral downhill, Mike Woodson could be unemployed and it could affect Anthony's future with the Knicks. He will be a free agent this summer and he's said he wants to stay with the Knicks. But this was long before this losing streak has taken the fun out of the game for him.
"I think last year as a team we were more synchronized than we are right now due to chemistry, due to having fun, due to having each other's back," Anthony said.
"We just got to start having fun once again on the basketball court, believing in one another. Right now it seems like we have no chemistry with one another, we're out of sync and the energy is very low. I think we can start with having high energy, putting forth some more effort. I think that stuff will start working its way around."
Woodson agreed.
"It's no fun for anybody around here right now," he said. "When you're losing, it's not fun on anybody. Everybody's a little upset and they should be. We all should be upset because we're not playing great basketball."
This is just Anthony's second time back in Denver, where he played 7½ seasons before forcing a trade to the Knicks in 2011.
When he returned last year, Anthony wound up walking off the court in the middle of the game because he said he couldn't move his right knee. He flew home to get his knee drained. Anthony said he should not have played.
"I should have just sat out that game," he said. "I was being a little naive. I wanted to come back and play here, that first time, that experience. If it was now I'd be sitting out."
The Knicks were experiencing one of their lowest points of last season during that trip.
They lost Anthony and Tyson Chandler to a knee injury in the 23-point loss in Denver and dropped the first four games of the trip. In the finale, Kurt Thomas, playing with a stress fracture in his foot, helped the Knicks beat Utah to start a 13-game winning streak.
The Knicks hope, at some point and in some way, history repeats itself.
"It's going to take us to dig out of the hole that we've dug," Woodson said. "It's not a deep hole, but winning a game might cure a lot of that."
