Knicks once again defeated by Bucks in London
Even with Carmelo Anthony and Amar’e Stoudemire back in the line-up, the Knicks were run off the court Thursday evening at a sold-out O2 arena in London, 95-79 by the Bucks. At the midpoint of the 82-game season, they now have an NBA-worst 5-36 win ratio. In case there was any doubt in anyone’s mind about how awful the Knicks are, well it is pretty clear now, no matter what continent they are playing in. Escaping for a few days across the pond or regaining the services of Carmelo Anthony and Amar’e Stoudemire in their line-up made the slightest difference as the Knicks were royally run off the court.
With Phil Jackson and various European soccer stars and NBA legends in attendance in what was billed as great event, the pitiful Knicks extended their single-season franchise record with their 16th consecutive loss, and incredibly 26th in 27 since late November: “We’ve done dug ourselves a big hole and I can’t really pinpoint or sit here and say what exactly is wrong,” Anthony said. “The one thing we can’t control as a team and as players is our confidence. It seems like guys are not playing with confidence. That was just what I saw the past couple of weeks being able to sit back and watch and see what’s going on kind of from a spectator’s view. I just see guys out there, at times we don’t have any confidence as individual players, as a team, and when we get down, it seems like everybody just puts their heads down and we’re fighting an uphill battle.” Anthony netted a team-high 25 points in 28 minutes through three quarters in his first game back from ongoing left knee soreness, but Stoudemire took only one shot and was held scoreless in just eight rusty first-half minutes after missing the previous nine games with swelling in his right knee.
Anthony, the $124 million forward said he would like to make it at least through the All-Star Game at the Garden on February 15th before considering shutting down his balky knee for the rest of the season. “On a personal note, I just want to stay focused on just getting healthy, that’s my number one goal to get healthy and to be able to come back next year at full strength. I took this time off so we really can gauge the injury and see if rest would help it and not make any drastic decisions right away,” With soccer stars Thierry Henry, Didier Drogba, injured USA and Everton goalkeeper Tim Howard, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Hakeem Olajuwon among those sitting courtside, the more athletic Bucks raced out to a 14-0 lead in the opening minutes. The Knicks, who had defeated Detroit here in an incredible 2013 season they finished with 54 wins briefly responded after missing their first 10 shots with a nine-point spurt. They trailed, 31-13, at the end of the first quarter and by as many as 24 in the first half, and got no closer than 11 after intermission.