The Knicks need more than a 42-point outburst from Carmelo Anthony to beat LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and the Miami Heat, or so says nearly every New York City-area sports columnist. One day after New York's 93-85 to Erik Spoelstra's squad, the media reminded us all that basketball is 1. A team game AND 2. Better when everyone gets involved on offense.
Of course, the real debate is whether or not Anthony had any choice but to shoot the ball 27 times. His teammates weren't scoring. Heck, they weren't even facilitating. Anthony had to do it all on Sunday, which is why it was no surprise interim coach Mike Woodson suffered his first home defeat of his tenure with the Knicks.
In the wake of Sunday's loss, some are blaming Anthony, some are blaming circumstances, but neither party seemed convinced the Knicks could upset the Heat should the two teams meet in a first-round playoff series.
Anyway, here's NJ.com's daily aggregation of Knicks news from around the web:
• The Star-Ledger's Dave D'Alessandro didn't see Sunday's loss as a random occurrence. The Heat won for several reasons: "When your vision clears up, rest assured that Miami 93, Knicks 85 happened for a reason today... It happened because we learned beyond a reasonable doubt that the Knicks cannot match up with Miami when they’re outnumbered in the star category (three to one, if you’re keeping score) â€" and they really don’t have any realistic expectation of pulling off a historic upset in this likely first-round playoff encounter... Not until we find out what Amar’e Stoudemire brings to the party, anyway â€" and his absence today makes it hard to glean many other conclusions from this one... Still, there is this takeaway: The Knicks â€" who will pass Philadelphia for seventh place one of these days and stay there â€" are likely to wear Melo out at this rate."
• The Heat players acknowledged Anthony's greatness afterward, even if those compliments doubled as dig against the Knicks, The Wall Street Journal's Kevin Clark explained: "After the game, Wade complimented the Knicks star with a statement that doubles as unintentional comedy: "Their one great player played great," Wade said, and that's exactly the problem. Aside from J.R Smith's 16 points on six of 15 shooting, no Knick player had more than nine points... 'Today we didn't have any flow. Even when I was in the game we didn't have any flow,' Anthony said. 'This is, for the first time in a long time, that I have seen that in our offense.'"
• Win or loss, as the New York Post's Mark Cannizzaro wrote, Anthony's performance was impressive: "Knicks guard J.R. Smith, who was a teammate of Carmelo Anthony’s in Denver, has seen this before â€" this torrid scoring streak Anthony is currently riding. But he has never seen it come in the clutch the way this one has in recent games with the Knicks’ playoff life hanging in the balance... 'This run right here has been like no other,' Smith said after watching Anthony pour in 42 points (one shy of his Knicks career high) on 14-of-27 shooting from the field in yesterday’s 93-85 loss to the Heat. 'Being at the Garden and seeing it is totally different than being at the Pepsi Center [in Denver] and seeing it. When you’re almost out of the playoffs and you’re fighting for the No. 6, 7 or 8 [playoff] spot and you have a leader like that doing what he’s been doing ... it’s tough to stop him.'"
• After the game, Miami's players were saying all the right things about their potential first-round opponent, Cannizzaro reported: "Several Heat players expressed a healthy respect for the Knicks as team that has their attention with the playoffs approaching... 'This was a important game,' Miami’s Shane Battier said. 'We respect New York. They’ve had a bizarre year in a lot of regards with ‘Linsanity’ and the injuries they’ve faced, but we respect that they’re dangerous.'"
• As Frank Isola of the New York Daily News suggested, the Heat are a much tougher first-round opponent for the Knicks than the top-seeded Chicago Bulls: "Perhaps the Heat did the Knicks a favor by pushing them into eighth, where Anthony and Co. would face a possible first-round series with Chicago. The Knicks at least beat the Bulls once in four meetings this year. Miami completed the three-game series sweep and although Mike Woodson’s team is being touted as a dark horse in the Eastern Conference, the bottom line is that the Knicks are 1-6 against the Bulls and Heat... 'It’ll be a battle,' Anthony said of what potentially lies ahead in the playoffs. 'We feel very confident going against anybody right now, regardless of who it is. Our confidence is sky high. We’ll learn from this game and get better.'â€
• Although the problems weren't all on display on Sunday, both the Knicks and the Heat have obstacles that need to be addressed before the playoffs, Ken Berger of CBSSports.com wrote: "There's plenty to worry about between now and then, for both of these teams. The Heat, because of who they are and the target they adorned themselves with when James and Chris Bosh joined Wade two summers ago, have more problems than a 42-17 team should. They started the game with no true center (Ronny Turiaf, shocking as it may sound, was hurt) and are still in the infant stages of utilizing a lineup that features no true point guard for long stretches. Despite their record and talent, Miami just doesn't carry itself like a team with any confidence -- which happens when your two best players, two of the most unguardable open-court players in the league, do little else besides launch low-percentage jump shots... The Knicks? There's no telling. This was the third time the Heat have faced them this season, and it was quite literally the third entirely different Knicks team they've faced. The last time the old '90s rivalry was resurrected, it turned out that New York was in the dying breaths of Linsanity. The Knicks got clobbered 102-88 in Miami on Feb. 23 and won only a single time in the next seven games before coach Mike D'Antoni resigned because he couldn't get through to Anthony."
• As Marc Berman of the Post wrote, the Knicks aren't scared of seeing this Heat team again: "The Knicks (31-29) dropped to eighth place, half-game behind No. 7 Sixers, and today would match up against the Bulls. But they have a game in hand and with the Sixers sliding, the Knicks have a better shot at No. 7 and a Heat matchup... 'It’s a good matchup from what we [saw] today,' said J.R. Smith, who had a fast start but petered out in the fourth quarter, finishing with 16 points on 6 of 15 shooting with three turnovers. 'Hopefully we’ll have STAT back and have him at least 90 percent by the payoffs. I think it will be a different story in the postseason.'"
• Woodson has yet to decide when Amar'e Stoudemire will be activated, Howard Beck of the Times reported: "Knicks Coach Mike Woodson said that there was no plan yet to activate Amar’e Stoudemire this week. Stoudemire, who has been out for nearly three weeks because of a bulging disk in his back, played 4 on 4 on Saturday for the first time. Woodson said he was awaiting word from the medical staff. 'Until they tell me he’s a go, then it’s nothing right now,' Woodson said."
• Jeremy Lin is ready for the next stage in his recovery from knee surgery, wrote Frank Isola of the Daily News: "Jeremy Lin, who had surgery two weeks ago today, is hoping to begin light jogging by the end of the week... 'I think he’s still on the bike and probably doing pool work, probably,' Mike Woodson said. 'But no jogging as far as I know.'... When Lin spoke with reporters last Sunday, he expressed optimism that he could return for the playoffs although he didn’t think it was realistic that he’d be ready for the first round."
• Berman reported that Tyson Chandler is fine after going down with an injury to his left knee on Sunday: "Chandler said he expects to play tomorrow when they host Boston in their last chance of challenging for the Atlantic Division title. Chandler claimed no tests are slated, though Knicks interim coach Mike Woodson cancelled practice because of the injuries... 'I should be fine,' Chandler said. 'It’s really sore right now. It’s hard to judge fresh of the game. I think I’ll be OK. It was just a bad collision.'"
• The Knicks lost while their next opponent, the Boston Celtics, got a win and some more rest, wrote Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com: "The Celtics beat the Bobcats on Sunday night, on a night when Doc Rivers decided to pull a Gregg Popovich and rested Boston's Big Three. The Celtics' win gave them a 4½-game cushion over the Knicks for first place in the Atlantic Division with just six games to go... Mike Woodson has said again and again that his team's goal is to win the division. They can be mathematically eliminated from that pursuit if they don't beat the Celtics on Tuesday."
• Outside of Disney, no media/entertainment outlet does more to pat itself on the back than Madison Square Garden. As Begley explained, MSG has now built a "classic moments" section for that purpose: "The 6th floor of the Garden will feature 'Memorable Moments Every Day,' a visual retrospective of 366 classic Garden moments. It is expected to be unveiled in the Fall of 2012. Twenty of the Garden's 'defining moments' will be featured on the 8th floor. Fans can vote for the moments on Madison Square Garden's Facebook page."
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