Carmelo Anthony couldn’t get his shots to fall, but that didn’t stop him from having a huge impact on the Knicks 107-103 victory over the Trail Blazers. When the Knicks have Anthony go 2-of-12 from the field in the second half, that usually means they can’t compete. Or it used to mean that, before Kristaps Porzingis, Brandon Jennings and Derrick Rose were Knicks. Now they can win games with a cold-shooting Anthony — and that’s a sea-change for the Knicks, a real turning point. (Note: they can’t win a playoff series this way, but Anthony doesn’t stay cold long.)
Porzingis had 31 and Rose had 18 including some clutch pops at the end, while Jennings dished 11 assists. But Anthony never quit, crashing the boards and getting an offensive rebound tip with 30 seconds to go that paved the way for Rose’s late heroics. Anthony’s six rebounds were second-most by a Knick after Porzingis’ nine. Knicks guard Courtney Lee said of Anthony: ”There’s other ways to impact the game if your shots not falling and he did it another way and that was defense and rebounding.”
