The orange headband was reminiscent of his days at Syracuse, and his game was just as effective as ever. Carmelo Anthony made his much anticipated debut as a Knick last night and he certainly didn’t disappoint. Neither did Chauncey Billups who has somehow managed to be regarded as a throw-in in this trade. Both newcomers were instrumental in helping the Knicks get by the Bucks last night, 114 – 108, in front of an excited home crowd.
His familiar #15 is hanging in the rafters at Madison Square Garden. So is his next choice of #22, which was his high school number. Therefore, ‘Melo subtracted 15 from 22 and ran out of the tunnel wearing #7. When he emerged, he was received by the warmest reception you can imagine from the crowd in the jam packed arena. “I never experienced anything like that before. That was a hell of a moment for the fans to react the way they did”, said ‘Melo in the postgame conference. If he can maintain his 27 point, 10 rebound performance, he’s sure to receive many more of those.
Chauncey was also well received by The Garden faithful on his way to 21 points and eight assists. He was even serenaded with a “Chauncey …Billups” chant at one juncture of the game when he was at the line.
But what a past couple of days for those two guys. ‘Melo arrived in New York on Tuesday night and both he and Billups were introduced in a pregame news conference. They didn’t even have the opportunity to practice with the team which is why I was somewhat surprised that they played. Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni said he only had time to implement a couple of plays and expected an All-Star game type of flow. It wasn’t quite that up-and-down and you could barely tell that it was a completely new team that is unfamiliar with one another.
The last time Carmelo played a regular season game was last Wednesday in Milwaukee against these same Bucks, as a member of the Nuggets of course. He lit Milwaukee up for 38 and this game looked similar to last week’s for Anthony.
Amar’e fouled out in this contest and that’s where the problem previously laid with the Knicks. The offense stood still when Stoudemire was out. Not anymore. It became ‘Melo time as he was able to knock down a few timely Js late to secure the win. Problem solved.
The Knicks played the Bucks back in November and lost by 27 as they were only able to put up 80 points on the scoreboard. With this new team, they were able to add much more to that total now that there is another certified scorer on the roster.
At 34, Chauncey still plays as young as ever and for some reason he resembled Derek Harper out there. Not by his style of play, but strictly appearance alone. Maybe it was the throwback uniforms and the bald head. Whatever it was, he proved that he’s still a top notch PG and that he was a very important part of the deal too. There’s still room for improvement for this team but they are certainly headed in the right direction. Now that the honeymoon is over, it’s time to get to work.
If you’re looking for your everyday, predictable basketball talk, then go somewhere else, because Kevin Burke of The Kevin Burke Project brings provocative, thought provoking content about basketball as only he can. Kevin also hosts The Hoop Doctors weekly podcast show, which you can subscribe to for free on iTunes. Follow Kevin on Twitter and Facebook
