Carmelo Anthony will not settle for the New York Knicks fading out of the Eastern Conference’s playoff picture after the NBA’s All-Star break.
To be sure, this may not be a matter of settling. The Knicks at this point may be just too far behind the pack. They are 12th in the conference, five games back of the final playoff spot. Anything can happen in the East between seeds three and 12, but the Knicks, realistically, have to reach 42 wins in order to guarantee a playoff berth. And that will entail them going 19-8 down the stretch—a tall task for a team that seemed to have a .500 ceiling even when it was clicking.
But Carmelo Anthony, who is expected to rehabilitate his surgically repaired left knee over the All-Star sabbatical, doesn’t care, per Newsday‘s Al Iannazzone:
“We have to go get it at this point,” Anthony said. “Take this break, kind of reboot, mentally, physically, come back and be ready for a dogfight. Everybody — top to bottom — everybody’s got to be ready. Everybody’s got to be prepared. This is a test for us. This will show if we really want this or not.”
If there’s a silver lining to the Knicks’ final 27 games, it’s that they’re not assured of losing a ton of those matchups. Tilts against the Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Clippers and Cleveland Cavaliers—whom the Knicks have played tightly in each of their three meetings this season—are a wash. Every other game is, in theory, winnable. The Toronto Raptors and Dallas Mavericks are the scariest opponents New York will face otherwise, and it helps that the Chicago Bulls won’t have Jimmy Butler for a while.
Can the Knicks complete an improbable comeback? That technically remains to be seen. But if team president Phil Jackson isn’t able to upgrade the roster ahead of the Feb. 18 trade deadline, the notion of New York making a last-ditch playoff push is beyond farfetched.
