NBA Week 18 Rewind: Stephen Curry keeps changing the game
By Tom West
Who’s Struggling?
The New York Knicks looked like they had a small chance of scraping into the playoffs earlier this season. Carmelo Anthony was adjusting his role to look for his teammates more, new players such as Robin Lopez and Arron Afflalo offered hope, and Kristaps Porzingis was making plays that no one expected. At the very least, it looked possible that a Knicks team improved from the useless 17-win quality of last season had the potential to steal the 8th seed.
Now, as they hang onto the 12th seed, inconsistent offense, poor perimeter defense and lackadaisical play has led to a -7.2 net rating (28th in the NBA in this span) and a 2-10 record since January 31 (per NBA.com).
As Fred Kerber of the New York Post has reported, Melo offered an obvious take on the Knicks’ struggling offense against the Heat on Sunday after he was forced to take 24 shots:
"“Anytime guys are not making shots, a lot of them was wide open, so when we’re not making shots who else is there to look to to make shots?” Anthony said with irrefutable logic. “I don’t look at it as putting too much on me.”"
Robin Lopez also chipped in on the Knicks’ reliance on Melo:
"“We have to move the ball a little more,” said center Robin Lopez (14 points, 14 rebounds). “As a team, we have to have more faith in ourselves. There are a lot of possessions where we are giving the ball to Melo and looking at him and hoping he can make something happen.”"
The loss to the Heat continued their 2-10 stretch since the end of January, and they look more and more like a team who clearly aren’t fit for the playoffs. Their backcourt play is questionable and they won’t be getting far with Jose Calderon as their starting point guard, Melo has needed to take a trigger-happy 20.4 shots a night over the last eight games, and when Arron Afflalo isn’t delivering the Knicks have no one else to turn to. It’s either Melo or hoping for a Porzingis put-back dunk.
They have strengths this season that can’t be overlooked, though. Specifically, they rank 2nd in opponent field goal percentage within five feet at 55.3, just 0.3 behind the 1st place Spurs.
However, with such sporadic offense and so much reliance on Melo who’s only shooting 42.3 percent, the Knicks just need to hold onto the fact that they have Porzingis and more wins (25) than last season. The playoffs and contention will have to wait.
Next: The Best Highlights of Week 18