It was, Carmelo Anthony said a few nights back, as if a cloud resided over the Knicks who seemed to be the living embodiment of Murphy’s Law, even more so. If something could go wrong, not only did it go wrong, but it usually ignited a five-alarm fire with it.
So on Sunday, the cloud didn’t disappear, but there was a definite break to allow a ray of sunlight into a dark, dank season.
Above all, the Knicks won, beating the Spurs, 94-90, in an upset of presidential proportions. Anthony passed NBA legend Charles Barkley for 25th place on the all-time scoring list. And there opened a chance — unfortunately through injury — that Anthony could make it to the All-Star Game. Cleveland’s Kevin Love injured his knee and, well, that’s the same Kevin Love linked to Anthony in trade rumors.
“I got plans. I would love to take this break and just utilize this break and my body and my mind and just get away from everything,” said Anthony, who scored 21 of his 25 points in the second half — seven in a critical 2:13 span of the fourth quarter that included a critical 3-pointer. “I could utilize this break. If they call me, I’d consider it, but I would love to utilize this break.”
He’ll consider if asked. But one thing he did not want to consider or speculate on was that Sunday might represent his last home game as a Knick. The trade deadline is Feb. 23. The Knicks’ next home game is Feb. 25. Do the math.
“Oh, come on, man. Don’t start that. Don’t start that,” said Anthony, who holds a no-trade clause trump card.
OK, to happy thoughts. He passed Barkley, who scored 23,757 points in his career. Anthony ended the game with 23,775.
“It’s an honor. Anytime you can move on up on that list, especially 25,” said Anthony, who moved past the current TV analyst when he nailed a 3-pointer in the third quarter that broke a 48-48 knot. “It’s definitely an honor. I’ll take it.”
And he’ll also take that cloud disappearing — if only momentarily. And it was a day when the Knicks honored a slew of their former players. Nope, Charles Oakley was not among them.
“Well, it’s definitely a relief,” Anthony said of the feel-good victory. “I won’t say the cloud is gone in one day. It snowed the other day. There’s still snow outside, so I wouldn’t say the cloud is gone. But for us to come out here and get this win tonight is definitely a relief from everything that’s going on.”
That would include: the Oakley mess, the never-ending trade rumors, the team defense that was largely considered MIA until it showed up Sunday against one of the best teams in the universe, or at least the NBA.
“It was more of a will to do it and just doing it,” said Anthony. “Just competing. I think that was the most important thing that led us to this victory. The fact that we came out here, competed and put together a whole game, offensively and defensively.”
Derrick Rose drove with 3:23 left to put the Knicks up, 83-81. Anthony then hit his Garden-rocking 3-pointer at 2:46 to make the spread five points. Jumpers at 1:15 and with 33.2 seconds left helped keep the Knicks up six.
And part the clouds for a bit.