Carmelo helps push Knicks past 76ers
Carmelo Anthony celebrates a basket in the second half against the Philadelphia 76ers. (Jan. 11, 2012) Credit: Jim McIsaac
Wednesday night was a showcase example of how one artful offensive force ultimately can hold sway over an NBA game. Carmelo Anthony's third-period salvos, 10 straight Knicks' points just when the Philadelphia 76ers were threatening to conjure a victory from the thin air of a game-long deficit, steadied the home team for a 85-79 victory.
Philadelphia led only twice all night, at 5-3 and 9-7, and was down by 16 at the start of the second period, but scratched back to within four (54-50), then two (58-56) late in the third. No matter. When the score and collars got tight, it was Anthony, swaddled in those white arm-warmers, white headband and blue knee socks, who found aces up his sleeves.
Anthony scored on a follow shot, a turnaround jumper, a baseline jumper, a fall-back jumper from the right wing and two free throws during a four-minute stretch to pump the Knicks' lead back to eight at 64-56.
That -- even though Anthony also missed one long shot and had another blocked by Elton Brand during the same span -- got the Knicks rolling toward their largest lead of the evening, 17 points at 78-61. And, while Philadelphia still had enough life to rip off 10 straight points, Anthony put a stop to that with two more free throws.
In the end, even with the Knicks failing to score a field goal in the last nine minutes, Anthony's game-high 27 points -- 18 in the second half -- had carved up Philadelphia into pieces just small enough to handle.
"We're winning games," Anthony said. "They're ugly wins. We'll take it. I'm not too concerned about the offensive end. I'm more proud of what we're doing on the defensive end, stopping guys."
He shot a pedestrian 9-for-24 from the floor and occasionally forced attempts. "We'll talk about that," Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni said. "But Carmelo is very effective at what he does, and you have to be careful about talking too much. He's a competitor. He knows how to play. We just got to get things straight with the whole team. We were really stagnant in the fourth quarter."
For the Knicks (6-4), it was a fourth straight victory and ended a six-game winning streak by Atlantic Division leader Philadelphia (7-3). With the frantic post-lockout schedule wearing down both teams -- Philadelphia playing its fifth game in six nights and the Knicks in their fourth in six nights -- even the ball appeared a bit tired. It was not moving nearly as well as it had in Monday night's Knicks' victory over Charlotte, with far more one-on-one play.
The typical waxing and waning of an NBA game was in full evidence, with the Knicks surging, then meandering, committing 21 turnovers and barely outshooting Philadelphia, 41.6 percent to 39.5. But there was Anthony's expected offensive muscle, Amar'e Stoudemire's occasional scything moves to the basket for 20 points and some unlikely rainbows from rookie Josh Harrelson, who scored 13. Iman Shumpert had 10 and Tyson Chandler contributed a game-high 13 rebounds.
"They just kept telling me, 'Shoot if you're open, shoot if you're open,' " Harrelson said. "And I'm always open in the corner when Carmelo and Amar'e are getting the double team, and tonight I was knocking it down."
