It didn’t take long for the new-look New York Knicks to show the rest of the NBA the challenge it’ll face when trying to defend the revamped squad, which now features two of the premier scorers in the game.
New Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony (left) smiles as he and frontcourt mate Amare Stoudemire walk off the court during a timeout Wednesday. Anthony contributed 27 points and 10 rebounds in his Knicks debut. (AP Photo)
A pair of plays in the second quarter both resulted in easy buckets for the Knicks, as Milwaukee Bucks defenders were forced to make decisions on whom to guard – Carmelo Anthony or Amare Stoudemire. With about four minutes to go in the half, Anthony drew the attention of the defense and hit a wide-open Ronnie Turiaf cutting to the basket. Later in the quarter, three Bucks defenders rotated toward Stoudemire, who then fed a wide-open Anthony under the basket.
Late in the fourth quarter, Bucks center Andrew Bogut cheated toward Anthony, leaving Stoudemire open on the foul line. Stoudemire received a pass from Chauncey Billups and drew a foul on Bogut as Bogut tried to recover.
Later in the fourth, with Stoudemire on the bench with six fouls and the Knicks in need of a bucket, they turned to Anthony – and he delivered, hitting what could be considered the game-clinching shot that put the Knicks up 108-102.
The Knicks went on to win 114-108, beating a team that has given them all sorts of trouble recently. The Bucks had won four in a row in Madison Square Garden, and swept the season series last year, 3-0. In their only previous meeting this season, the Bucks rolled 107-80 in Milwaukee.
Anthony finished with 27 points and 10 rebounds, leading the Knicks in both categories. He was aggressive all night on both ends of the floor, adding two steals to his stat line. He did struggle to find his range, shooting just 10-for-25 from the field.
But Billups, whose own move from Denver to New York hasn’t gotten a lot of attention, may have had the more impressive Knicks debut. He also got his share of love from the knowledgeable Garden crowd.
Billups had 21 points, eight assists, six rebounds and two steals, and went 12-for-12 from the free throw line. In the closing seconds of the game, fans chanted “Chaun-cey Bill-ups,” after numerous “Melo” chants throughout the evening.
Many league observers questioned how good the Knicks would be defensively after this week’s blockbuster trade, and the Knicks did little to quell those concerns Wednesday. They had particular difficulty defending the perimeter, allowing Milwaukee to shoot 11-for-23 from 3-point range.
In his postgame comments, Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni stressed the team has to get better on defense.
“I think it’s pretty obvious, we’re going to be pretty potent offensively," he said. "Our key will be defense. ... There were parts in there that were really good, and sometimes we broke down, but if we can, in these 27 [remaining] games continue to get better defensively, we can be pretty good.”
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