National Basketball Association

New York Knicks: Carmelo Anthony Feels Sense Of Urgency

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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The New York Knicks are coming off of a blowout loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers. Carmelo Anthony doesn’t plan on letting that game define New York’s season.

The New York Knicks’ 117-88 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers has called all reasons for optimism into question. New York was simply overmatched in the second half, which thus led to a rather demoralizing 29-point loss.

Though Knicks fans are understandably discouraged by the outcome of the season opener, the franchise player isn’t concerned.

Carmelo Anthony played like the All-NBA player he’s known to be during the first half of the loss to Cleveland. He went cold in the second half, however, and was unable to prevent LeBron James from recording a game-defining triple-double.

According to Al Iannazzone of Newsday, Anthony and the Knicks have a sense of urgency that will prevent the season opener from becoming a trend.

“It gives us a sense of urgency to want to get back on the court, just to show that game didn’t have any effect on us as a team,” Anthony said. “We’ll be a totally different team.”

That’s a bold statement—one that has its merits.

New York collapsed in the second half, but it was playing its first ever game with the new starting lineup. It was doing so against the defending NBA champions, which makes the fact that New York held Cleveland to 48 first half points rather encouraging.

Chemistry take times to build, but a sense of urgency and a shared hunger is an excellent way to ensure that transpires.

It was tough to find that sense of urgency during the second half against Cleveland, albeit with New York’s excusable inexperience as a unit.

Though all players carry their own burdens, Anthony is facing the most pressure of any Knicks player to get New York back to the postseason. He’s a three-time Olympic gold medalist and an NCAA champion, but that hasn’t spared him from criticism from impatient Knicks fans.

Anthony can temper some of the early 2016-17 negativity by leading the Knicks to victory against the Grizzlies.

Nothing is certain, but after a blowout loss in the first game, Anthony has essentially promised that the result will be different in the regular season opener.