Carmelo Anthony believes his Game 4 shooting struggles were an isolated incident.
In the Knicks' 97-90 overtime loss to the Celtics on Sunday, Anthony's shot was as erratic as J.R. Smith's behavior. The superstar forward suffered through a miserable 10-for-35 afternoon, clanging all seven of his 3-point attempts. In the final three-plus minutes of regulation and five minutes of overtime, Anthony went 1-for-9 from the field and just 2-of-4 from the free-throw line.
"I had one of those days," he said yesterday, insisting his shot still feels perfectly fine. "I haven't missed 25 shots in a long, long time. I don't think I'll have another day like that."
NBAE/Getty Images
Carmelo Anthony
Other than Sunday, Anthony hasn't missed 25 shots in a game in his entire 10-year NBA career. Not in the regular season and not in the playoffs.
KNICKS PLAYOFF SCHEDULE
PHOTOS: BEST PLAYOFF MOMENTS
For the series, Anthony is shooting a middling 41 percent from the field, although he was at 46 percent (36-for-78) before Game 4. He's averaging a series-best 33.0 points, with no other player on either team close to that number. The second-highest scorer on either squad is Paul Pierce's 21.3 points per game.
Anthony said he was out of rhythm in Game 4.
"There were shots that I missed that I felt were just normal [shots]. I felt like I was just one step slow but I was speeding a little bit at the same time," he said. "[Tonight] I just want to relax. Just let the game come. Continue doing what I've been doing in the first three games. Being aggressive. One thing I can take from Game 4 is just getting to the free-throw line, trying to get guys in foul trouble."
Despite Anthony's issues from the field in Game 4, he went to the free-throw line 20 times (he sank 16, although he missed two big ones late in the fourth quarter). No other player on either team took more than eight free throws.
"Thirty-five shots is a lot of shots for me. Kind of out of character for myself," said Anthony, who attempted 30 shots four times during the season but whose 35 attempts in Game 4 were a season high. "But throughout the course of the game, you're not really thinking about how many shots you took or things like that.
"So for me, it's just now working everybody back into the role, back into the play. Getting guys shots where they need to be at. Just playing basketball at this point."
mark.hale@nypost.com
0 comments:
Post a Comment