Three years and nine months after trading Carmelo Anthony to the Knicks, the 2-7 Nuggets are a mess – on full display during Sunday’s 109-93 ugly matinee at the Garden. The 3-8 Knicks are a mess in progress.
So who won that big trade? Nobody won the trade. The highlight of Anthony’s Knicks stint has been one second-round playoff showing.
After breaking a seven-game losing streak, the Knicks still look like a club that will miss the playoffs for a second straight year – unless injured starting point guard Jose Calderon becomes as perfect in the triangle as Phil Jackson thinks he is.
At least this season the Knicks would own their lottery pick. Last season’s misery was made more egregious because their first-round pick – No. 12 – was owned by Denver as the last remnant of the blockbuster Anthony trade. Denver had two first-round picks and the Knicks’ selection slid to Orlando. At No. 12, the Magic chose European forward Dario Saric, whose rights were traded to Philly. He’s now in Europe.
Still, the Nuggets started two guys from the Anthony trade – streaky small forward Wilson Chandler (4-of-14 shooting) and serviceable center Timofey Mozgov. But the Nuggets are in this state largely because of the unfortunate fall of former first-round pick Danilo Gallinari, who underwent two straight ACL surgeries and looks like a shell of himself in his latest return to the court.
Gallinari comes off the bench and just had a 20-minute restriction lifted. He’s still not permitted to play back-to-backs and looks like he’s lost the lift on his sweet jumper and the burst on his moves to the rim as well. Gallinari shot 1-of-5 in 13:50.
The Knicks? Anthony looked excellent Sunday in scoring 28 points on 10-of-14 shooting. But depleted of assets following the trade, Knicks management never surrounded Anthony with enough of a cast to build a legit title contender. Plus, Anthony, once the game’s best closer as a Nugget, hasn’t been that last-minute sniper in New York. Now they start over with Phil Jackson’s triangles, Zen and 2015 cap space.
Sometimes both teams win a trade. This time nobody did.
“Everybody knows my connection with Denver – I spent 7½ years early in my career,’’ Anthony said after the win. “There will always be some type of connection, but as far as having that emotional attachment to the Denver Nuggets, I’m here now.’’
Other observations from the snapping of the seven-game losing streak:
— Fisher gave a long, convoluted answer on how the Knicks defense held the Nuggets to 1-of-16 shooting in the second quarter. It was the first time the Knicks had held an opponent to one field goal in a quarter since 2000. To condense his answer, Fisher said the 3-point shot won’t beat them this season despite the critics. Playing good transition defense and keeping guys out of the paint is the key. Fisher said that’s what they did in the second quarter. When Fisher analyzes the film Monday, he’ll see Denver’s ineptitude was more the cause. The Nuggets blew layups, open shots and turned the ball over six times – most of them unforced. The Knicks defense isn’t out of the woods yet.
— Anthony’s four-game shooting slump devastated the team, but he has rediscovered his shot the last three games of the homestand, even if they went just 1-2. Anthony shot 10-of-17 vs. Orlando, 16-of-26 vs. Utah and a deadly 10-of-14 vs. Denver with six trips to the free-throw line. Perhaps Jackson’s and Derek Fisher’s talk with Anthony earlier this week about when to take over the game and when to get teammates involved is sinking in.
