Melo becoming dangerous from downtown
New York Knicks small forward Carmelo Anthony (7) takes a jump shot during the first half against the Toronto Raptors. (April 5, 2011) Credit: Christopher Pasatieri
Carmelo Anthony's three-point dagger with 11.8 seconds left in Wednesday's win over the 76ers was his 100th attempt in 24 games as a Knick. Why is this significant? Because in 50 games with the Nuggets before the trade, Anthony attempted only 126.
What makes this even more important is that he's made 44 of those 100 threes as a Knick, which eclipsed his Denver total of 42 made in 126 tries.
Anthony, who before this season was a 30.8-percent shooter from downtown, has turned the three-ball into yet another weapon in his loaded arsenal. And he's done so with something former teammate Allen Iverson used to scoff at.
Practice? I mean, we talking practice!
"In this system, the amount of threes that we take as a team and the amount you have to take when you're wide open, it forces you to go out there in practice on your off days and work on your shot,'' Anthony said. "It's all about confidence and now knowing that those are going to be the shots that if you're open, I'm going to have to take that. I just started working on that a little more.''
As his confidence in the shot has increased, so have his attempts. Anthony was 5-for-8 from beyond the arc against the 76ers and is 10-for-15 in the last two games. In the last six games, he is attempting 6.5 threes per game and hitting a sizzling 46.2 percent.
"He's just hard to guard one-on-one,'' Mike D'Antoni said. "We know that . . . He's playing well. He's shooting the ball extremely well.''
Anthony has doubled his attempts per game since joining the Knicks. In 564 games with the Nuggets, he took 2.3 three-pointers per game and shot 31 percent. In 24 games with the Knicks, Anthony's attempts are up to 4.2 per game and he is shooting 44 percent.
It's not as if George Karl's system doesn't utilize the three-ball. Denver, which leads the NBA in scoring, is seventh in three-point attempts.
"I don't think my focus was really to shoot threes out there [in Denver],'' Anthony said. "I think in this system, it's a spread-out system, pick-and-rolls, the court is so open, and those are the shots that you almost have to take, they're so wide open.
"Playing in [D'Antoni's] system, that's a priority,'' Anthony said of the three-pointer. "That's a main focus now, to be about to knock that shot down.''
As much as the three-point shot has been a staple of D'Antoni's offense, this season's team -- while second in the NBA at 106.6 points scored per game -- is shooting the three at a much lower rate than in the coach's first two seasons in New York. The Knicks are on pace to barely eclipse 2,000 attempts this season, compared to 2,145 in 2009-10 and a franchise record 2,284 in 2008-09.
Notes & quotes: The Nets on Wednesday unveiled a billboard in Times Square that features Deron Williams and the slogan "Bound for Brooklyn.'' It's a safer distance from the Garden than the one that was up last July on 34th Street and 8th Avenue and ruffled a few feathers at 2 Penn Plaza . . . The Knicks did not practice Thursday but will have a shootaround Friday morningat MSG Training Center before departing for Newark for the game against the Nets. The availability of Amar'e Stoudemire (sprained left ankle) and Chauncey Billups (right thigh contusion) will be decided then . . . The Nets could be without two of their key players, Williams (wrist) and Kris Humphries (heel). Both missed the previous game; decisions on each are expected after their shootaround.
