Carmelo Anthony

New York Knicks: Carmelo Anthony Keeping The Faith Alive

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 6:20 p.m. ET

Fansided, Maxwell Ogden/FanSided via Daily Knicks

The New York Knicks have endured a grueling month of January, but Carmelo Anthony is imploring his teammates to keep the faith alive.

The New York Knicks could have quit on the season already. Between the heartbreaking losses, the drama between the front office and franchise player, and the unforgiving critics, the Knicks could have given up and begun to mail it in.

As the Knicks prepare their latest test with five of the next six games being played on the road, however, Carmelo Anthony hasn’t lost faith or confidence.

Anthony and the Knicks are currently 19-26 overall, 12-11 at home, and 7-15 on the road. New York is just 5-16 since beginning the season at 14-10, which has inevitably sparked frustration and outrage amongst players, fans, and coaches.

According to Fred Kerber of The New York Post, Anthony is happy with the effort the Knicks have begun to put forth and won’t lose faith that the rest will come together.

“It’s keeping the belief in and the faith in ourselves and one another to know that when we lose one or two plays you can’t fault the effort. The effort is there,” Anthony said. “We’re not doing the small things that when you’re winning you have that feeling that it’s easy to build off of that.”

That’s all the players and coaches can do.

New York has lost 10 games by five points or less during the 2016-17 NBA regular season, as well as six games by one possession. It’s unrealistic to claim all of those games should have been wins, but New York was in a position to secure a victory in every one of those outings.

That includes four of the past five five outings, when the Knicks have led by at least one point with 32 seconds or less remaining in the fourth quarter.

Every one of those games ended in a loss.

True as that may be, the Knicks’ close losses are a sign that they’re closer to winning than they were before. That progress is undoubtedly attractive, but New York has created an uphill battle that it may not be able to win.

Though the odds are stacked against the Knicks, Anthony isn’t losing faith in his team.

From a leadership perspective, that’s the most important thing Anthony can do.