Helping Hands: Carmelo Anthony (and Others) Lead Knicks to Second Straight Win

By Jon Wagner

NEW YORK -- Carmelo Anthony didn’t need to put forth a record-breaking performance this time.

Carmelo Anthony guarded closely by Jodie Meeks. 
(Photo: Jon Wagner)

One game after his brilliant 62-point effort that set New York Knicks and Madison Square Garden records, Anthony’s normal, everyday greatness sufficed, as his 35 points on 14-of-31 shooting were complemented by 67 points from four of his teammates, during the Knicks’ 110-103 victory 

over the Los Angeles Lakers (16-29) on Sunday afternoon at the Garden.

Point guard Raymond Felton reached 20 points for the first time this season (on 8-of-10 shooting, to match the same numbers Anthony had after one quarter on Friday night); Tim Hardaway, Jr. had 18 points (on 7-of-12 shooting); J.R. Smith scored 16 (while making half of his 12 shots); and center Tyson Chandler added 13 (on 5-of-11 shooting), while grabbing a game-high 14 rebounds (including six on the offensive glass), for the Knicks (17-27), who won their second straight game while moving to 2-3 on a season-long eight-game homestand.

The Lakers likewise had several hot shooters, as guard Jodie Meeks scored 24 points (on 8-of-13 shooting); center Pau Gasol had 20 (on 8-of-15 shooting) and a team-high 13 rebounds; reserve guard Manny Harris (playing on a 10-day contract) scored 18 points (on 6-of-9 shooting); and forward Nick Young (13 points) and guard Kendall Marshall (12 points) each shot 5-for-11.

Los Angeles also had a 15-2 edge in fast break points, but that was more than offset by a 21-6 New York advantage in second-chance points, due in large part to the Knicks’ 16-5 dominance on the offensive glass.

Although he didn’t need to put New York on his back again, Anthony did bring the Knicks home with two consecutive baskets, to extend a precarious three-point lead to seven, with 2:33 remaining. Those buckets came after Anthony finished the third quarter with 29 points, but had only two previous points on one field goal in the final period.

Yet unlike New York’s last win, the Knicks were far more balanced on their path to victory.

A view inside Madison Square Garden, from the Chase Bridge. 
(Photo: Jon Wagner)

“It’s great when you look up at the scoreboard and see so many guys in double figures,” Chandler said. “That means it’s a team effort and with everybody involved. I feel like it just picks up the intensity.”

Forward Iman Shumpert (five points) noted New York’s good ball movement, which helped the Knicks -- on three more attempts (26-23) -- match the Lakers’ 11 3-pointers.

“I thought we spread the ball around quite a bit tonight, and everybody was pretty aggressive, so it was great to see that,” he said.

Shooting 47.8 percent (43-for-90), to Los Angeles' 52 percent (39-for-75), New York had assists (21) on nearly half of its field goals.

Almost half of those came from Felton and Anthony (game-high five assists each), whose team moved to 12-4 this season when the Knicks' best player hands out at least four assists.

Just as he did in his last outing, Anthony started hot while making three of his first four shots and scoring seven points to help New York to a 10-6 lead after 3:17.

“I thought he came out early and established himself, and was shooting the heck out of the ball,” head coach Mike Woodson said of Anthony. “His teammates rallied around him, did their part, and it was a total team effort… last year, we had five guys averaging in double figures. I have always wanted a team where you don’t know where it’s coming from. You know Melo is going to get his, but we need everybody to touch the ball, feel confident and shoot it.”

Adding to Woodson’s comments, Anthony said, “I was just trying to lock in again, get it going from the start and hopefully give my teammates some momentum, something that they can build off of and feed off of… I don’t think they wanted to just watch me out there playing offensively. They wanted to be a part of it, and they did. Before the game, we all talked about them being more aggressive, and don’t try to rely on me scoring 62 points, ‘cause it’s not going to happen today. And they did that. They was aggressive from the start and everybody seemed to get it going.”

Amused by the reaction to the insanely high bar set by Anthony last game, Chandler said, “You know it’s funny, when a guy puts up the type of numbers that he put up tonight… and you hear the crowd gasp when he misses a shot, like he’s just expected to make every single shot when he put up 62 a couple nights before.”

After the Lakers tied the game at 12-apeice, the Knicks took a 22-16 lead, but Los Angeles scored the last nine points of the first quarter to go up, 25-22.

That margin grew to 32-26, but New York tied the game at 35-all on a 9-3 run. Four more ties followed in the period, two of which came as the Knicks closed the half on a 12-5 spurt to lead, 51-47.

For New York, that was key, since the Knicks are now 15-4 (and 7-3 at home) when they lead at halftime this season, and only 2-23 (2-12 at MSG) when they don’t.

Anthony, who led all scorers with 20 points (on 7-of-13 shooting) in the first half, started a high-scoring third quarter (34-32, Lakers) with a 3-pointer to extend New York’s lead to 54-47, but Los Angeles reeled off the next eight points to lead by one.

Tim Hardaway, Jr. dunks as Carmelo Anthony 
watches. (Photo: Jon Wagner)

A pair of Chandler free throws capped a 10-4 spurt to put the Knicks up by five points, but the game was tied twice more in the quarter, before a 3-pointer and an alley-oop dunk by Hardaway gave New York an 83-79 cushion. A layup by Marshall sliced that lead in half, to 83-81, heading into the fourth period.

Driving layups by Hardaway pushed the Knicks’ edge to 88-83, and then 95-91, before a Chandler alley-oop dunk from Felton delighted the crowd and had New York ahead, 99-94, with 5:42 remaining.

Marshall answered with a 3-pointer, to get the Lakers to within 99-97, with 5:18 left, but Los Angeles managed just one field goal thereafter as the Knicks kept scoring. A layup by Anthony doubled the lead to four points, on his first points of the period, with 4:51 to go.

“We stopped them on the defensive end, held them to one shot,” Anthony said. “We played great defense coming down the stretch.”

Woodson added, “Our defense got better in the fourth quarter. If you are going to make a push in the game, your defense has to pick you up and carry you home. They shot the lights out in the third. When we had to get stops coming down the stretch, in the fourth quarter, we got stops and we executed offensively.”

Gasol made it a one-possession game by sinking one of two free throws, but a 14-foot jumper and a driving layup by Anthony finally gave the Knicks some breathing room with a 105-98 advantage.

Felton drained a 20-foot jumper to increase the lead to 107-99, with 1:31 left, and the Lakers never got closer than five points the rest of the way.

Although he was well short of his previous point total, Anthony tied Bernard King (1984-85) for the third-most most points (97) in franchise history over a two-game span. It was King’s single-game record of 60 points (in 1984) that Anthony broke on Friday night. He also eclipsed the old Garden high of 61 points, set in 2009, by Kobe Bryant, who missed his 20th straight game with an injured left knee.

Bryant’s absence took some life out of the matchup, one that saw the two teams pitted against each other, each with records of at least 10 games under .500 at the same time, for the first time since 1960.

Looking ahead, Anthony said, “We’ve got to start building something here on our home court.” New York is just 9-15 there after starting 10-0 and going 31-10 at MSG last year.

Up next for the Knicks is a rematch with the fourth-place Boston Celtics (15-31), who will return to the Garden for the first time since handing New York its worst loss of the season, by 41 points, on December 8.

“We know that,” Anthony said. “That’s in the back of our minds, so we understand the loss that we had against them last time, and we want to redeem ourselves.”

Jon Wagner is a Yahoo Sports contributor covering the New York Knicks, New York Giants and New York Mets. He also covers the Knicks, Hofstra University men's basketball and the New York Cosmos for New York Sports Day. Follow Jon on Twitter, @JonathanJWagner, and visit his Yahoo Contributor Network page by clicking here.