As expected, Carmelo Anthony received a warm — well mostly warm — reception in his return to the Garden for the first time since he was traded to the Thunder in the offseason. It helped, of course, that new top dog Kristaps Porzingis publicly declared that he deserved to be recognized for being the Knicks鈥 marquee attraction through a half decade and change. Never mind that he managed to lead the blue and orange to the playoffs just thrice, and past the first round only once.
Needless to say, Anthony made the most — or, to be more precise, tried to make the most — of his time back in Gotham鈥檚 Sports Mecca. In recent memory, he looked more intent, and content, to defer to the other members of the Thunder鈥檚 Big Three in an effort to promote efficiency. Yesterday, though, he was more of the Iso Melo who elicited from Knicks fans a roller coaster of emotions. And he wound up misfiring more often than not, no doubt due to the defense thrown at him, but likewise because he appeared, at times, to be overwhelmed by the occasion.
As things turned out, Anthony would fail to get the satisfaction of a respectable showing. Not only did he manage to can a mere five of his 18 attempts from the field; he was blanked for the entire second half. In fact, his last basket came off an assisted slam with a little over four minutes left in the second quarter. And from then on, the Thunder were outscored by 10 en route to a 15-point defeat. Which, in a nutshell, means he didn鈥檛 get any satisfaction at all. (Notably, Paul George also struggled at the Fieldhouse earlier in the week, but left his home of the last seven years with a W.)
For all the disappointment Anthony must have felt, the bigger takeaway from yesterday鈥檚 outcome was the Thunder鈥檚 continuing lack of fluidity on both ends of the court. A full third into their 2017-18 campaign, they remain lost and unsure; even as their talent cannot be denied, they haven鈥檛 shown enough of it to justify their preseason prognosis as a powerhouse. If anything, they鈥檝e displayed the opposite; he, George, and reigning league Most Valuable Player Russell Westbrook seem to revert to 鈥淵our Turn, My Turn, His Turn鈥 mode under pressure.
The good news is that the Thunder have time to improve and crowd the top of the West, not scramble to avoid the lottery. Frankly, they鈥檙e too stacked not to. Then again, the numbers don鈥檛 lie, and losing to the Knicks, who competed without Porzingis and Tim Hardaway, Jr., should send alarm bells ringing. There were no smiles in the visitors鈥 locker room, not after a tiring back-to-back stand that featured a triple-overtime win and then a disappointing setback, and not heading into the uncertainty of what鈥檚 still to come.
Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since 大象传媒 introduced a Sports section in 1994. He is the Senior Vice-President and General Manager of Basic Energy Corp.
