Carmelo Anthony received a firsthand look at a real NBA title contender on Wednesday night.
That glimpse was not provided by his New York Knicks, who remain as futile as ever. It came courtesy of the Golden State Warriors, who handed the Knicks a 121-85 loss, barely even breaking a sweat.
Afterward, ‘Melo was predictably dour, per Chris Herring of The Wall Street Journal:
Melo, on Warriors: "It's very impressive, 61-6. But it's hard to pat them on the back when you get your ass whipped."
— Chris Herring (@Herring_NBA) March 17, 2016
Anthony did, however, offer the Warriors their just due in the end:
But Melo adds: "We're witnessing something great here."
— Chris Herring (@Herring_NBA) March 17, 2016
This loss was emblematic of everything wrong with the Knicks. You can’t reasonably expect them to contend with the Warriors. No team in the league, aside from the San Antonio Spurs, really can. But they’re out there playing slow-paced basketball and hoisting long two-pointers as the Warriors blitz them with a barrage of threes and speed.
Golden State was a plus-36 points over the Knicks from beyond the arc. That can’t happen. If you’re going to play half-court basketball, you need to have a strong defense, which the Knicks don’t, or at least be willing to chuck a ton of threes, which the Knicks also don’t. They need to figure that out over the offseason, with their next coaching hire, and their primary free-agency targets, otherwise we’re going to be saying the same things about the Knicks and the triangle that we’ve been saying since this Phil Jackson experiment began.
