Melo has his moments, but not enough

BOSTON

The Knicks and their fans waited two months for the answer to the only question that really matters: What will Carmelo Anthony bring to the franchise come playoff time?

The answer on Night One of Year One was a little bit of everything, but in the end not nearly enough. The result was a dispiriting 87-85 loss to the Celtics in Game 1.

Well, it certainly seemed dispiriting from an outsider's perspective. But Melo was surprisingly mellow afterward, insisting: "I missed some shots I normally make. I'm not too concerned about my individual performance.''

Good for him, because the Knicks are far from out of it, and the Celtics look as creaky and uncertain as advertised.

But there was no ignoring a hideous 5-for-18 shooting night, including 1-for-11 in the second half, and a long three-pointer that clanged off the rim as the clock ran out.

The miss followed by 20 seconds or so a horrendously timed offensive foul by Anthony on which he wrestled for position with Paul Pierce, costing the Knicks the ball when they led by a point.

"In my eyes -- obviously I'm biased -- I thought it was a tough call,'' coach Mike D'Antoni said.

Anthony's thoughts? "What I thought and what they called are two different things,'' he said. "It is what it is. He called it. It's over with.''

The Celtics tried Jeff Green and Ray Allen on Anthony, but mostly it was Pierce who got it done. Or so it seemed. Anthony wasn't in the mood to dole out extra credit.

"As far as Paul Pierce, I don't think he did anything out of the ordinary or special as far as defending me,'' he said. "I think the Celtics were themselves [on defense]."

What about that final shot? "I had a chance to make a three. I missed it. But like I said, they didn't do anything special.''

Anthony did say the Celtics "loaded up the paint'' whenever he got the ball, perhaps explaining his relative lack of drives to the basket and paltry four free-throw attempts.

Net result: a squandered opportunity, a wasted fourth- quarter tour de force by Amar'e Stoudemire and a continuation of the Knicks' 10-game losing streak at TD Garden and 10-year playoff winless streak.

Anthony did squeeze in one brilliant quarter, scoring 12 points in the second as the Knicks built a 51-39 halftime lead. But in the first, he picked up two fouls in the first 1:28 and went to the bench. He finished the quarter having scored as many points as his wife, La La Vazquez, who watched courtside.

In the third, Melo was 1-for-8 from the field -- beginning with a 30-foot chuck that appeared to anger D'Antoni. Somewhere in there, Jermaine O'Neal blocked Anthony and scored on the other end.

In the fourth, Anthony's shooting woes continued, but he contributed with a couple of nifty assists. But he missed one of two free throws in a key spot, and then there was that awful finish, and that was that. He had more turnovers (five) than assists (four) or rebounds (four).

Can the Knicks win with Anthony playing like that? As D'Antoni noted, they almost did. More likely, they will need him to do more of what he was brought here to do: score, early and often.

"I take my hat off to my teammates, man, for just competing out there until the end,'' Anthony said. "We did some things well out there. We stuck to the game plan, and for the most part, it worked.''

Except for one very important part that didn't.

The Dolan family owns controlling interests in the Knicks, MSG and Cablevision. Cablevision owns Newsday.