New York Knicks: 5 games to highlight on the 2018-19 schedule

New York Knicks (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)

3. Wednesday, January 23 vs. Houston Rockets

Carmelo Anthony makes his second trip back to Madison Square Garden since being traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder last summer.

This year, however, he will don a Houston Rockets uniform when he is welcomed back by the Garden crowd.

In his seven seasons with the New York Knicks, Anthony averaged 24.7 points and 7.0 rebounds while being an all-star each year with the team.

Last year’s homecoming did not go as planned for the former scoring champion, as he shot a mere 5-for-18 en route to a statline consisting of 12 points, 5 rebounds, and 1 assist on the night.

Following this past season, the Oklahoma City Thunder decided to trade Anthony to the Atlanta Hawks, where we was subsequently bought out and signed by the Houston Rockets.

He averaged a career low of 16.2 points to go along with his 5.8 rebounds per game in his lone season in Oklahoma City.

The departure of Melo was fairly mutual. Carmelo had clashed with front office figures such as Phil Jackson and did not want to spend the end of his decorated career on a rebuilding team. The Knicks had moved on and were ready to unload his hefty contract to bring in some younger talent.

Anthony will try to provide a more impressive showing in his second return to the Garden in January.

Hopefully, by the time this game rolls around, injured all-star Kristaps Porzingis also has returned to the Knicks and is close to being back to his full form. This could be a good game to gauge how the young talent in New York can do against one of the premier teams in the NBA.