Carmelo Anthony Calls Out Knicks After Hawks Loss

Saturday night New York Knicks blew a first quarter 15 point lead, and went down by as many as 24 points in the final period against the Atlanta Hawks. New York eventually went on to lose 117-98.

Superstar Carmelo Anthony made his return from a one game absence, finishing the game with 18 points, 12 rebounds, and 4 assists. Although it was not enough.

Another thing that there was not enough of, according to Anthony per Marc Berman of the New York Post – was in-game adjustments. Anthony particularly pointed to the third quarter.

"“That third quarter, 27-12, I don’t want to say not ready, but not being prepared for the adjustment they were going to make,’’“It was a tale of two halves. We started out the game pretty well. Coming out the third quarter, we didn’t start the game well. That one quarter hurt us.’’"

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New York shot a blistering 65.9% from the field in the first half, but the Hawks completely shut down the Knicks in the third quarter. New York only converted on four of their field goals attempts and shot a pathetic 19% in the period. The Knicks also committed seven turnovers in third quarter, something that Anthony said he knew was coming out of halftime.

"“We got to do a better job adjusting to their adjustments,’’“Coming out in the third quarter, we knew they were going to apply pressure, get up in the passing lanes, try to make it difficult to run our offense. They sped us up in the third quarter, which led to 27-to-12.’’"

Although… to be fair turnovers plagued New York all night long, committing 22 of them in the game which helped propelled Atlanta’s 18 fast break points.

It kind of sounds like Anthony is calling out head coach Derek Fisher for not making the proper in-game adjustments, but the star forward also called out his teammates for their poor defense.

"“It starts up top,’’ “We got to do a better job of keeping guys out of the paint, not just the guards.’’"

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New York was destroyed in the paint by Atlanta, outscored 62-32 in the paint. The opposing guards got into the paint at will (as usual…) and Atlanta’s bigs overpowered the Knicks, in particular rookie sensation Kristaps Porzingis. The 7’3″ 240 pounds Latvian really struggled in the game against Paul Millsap and Al Horford early on, and Fisher did not hesitate to substitute him out of the game. Porzingis was disappointed in himself and the way the team responded after blowing an early lead.

"“It is always disappointing to blow that lead we had and let them do what they wanted to do with us,’’“We all needed to step up. We all started out good and got a little comfortable.’’"

Anthony believes it is as simple as wanting it more than their opponent, and that the next couple of weeks will make or break the Knicks’ season.

"“We got to want it more,’’“This is a stretch we could define ourselves. We’re playing playoff teams the next couple of weeks. If we want to be a good team, we’re going to have to start winning some of these games.’’"

With losses mounting and Playoffs bound opponents ahead, it very well could define the 2015-2016 season. Currently the Knicks are 12th in the Eastern Conference standings, and are 3.5 games back from the eighth seeded Boston Celtics; whom coincidentally are the next opponent. Then New York will face the Detroit Piston, whom they are also trying to catch up to in the standings.

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Afterwards the schedule only gets worse… with the Chicago Bulls, home and home against the very same Hawks team that just blew the Knicks out…, Miami Heat, and the San Antonio Spurs. New York would be lucky to go even .500 during this stretch… it would be a major win if the Knicks could accomplish that feat.