The Knicks beat the Lakers 99-95 on Sunday, behind 24 points from Carmelo Anthony.
After the game, Melo called out a Lakers fan who had been giving him trouble:
Carmelo also called on Knicks fans to be more vocal after Lakers fans invaded the Garden in full force for Sunday’s game.
“I’ve never seen that on my home court where an opposing fan is heckling me. Where are my fans at? We need the Knicks fans to step up there.”
Knicks superstar Carmelo Anthony travelled to Baltimore on Thursday to participate in a protest against police violence following the death of Freddie Gray.
Melo was born in Brooklyn, but grew up in Baltimore after his family moved when he was eight.
The incident has sparked protests and riots in Baltimore and other US cities (including New York) this week. The Baltimore Orioles had to cancel one game, ask fans to remain in the ballpark after another, play one that was closed to the public, and move a series to Florida due to safety concerns.
While the public unrest has led to several riots in the Baltimore area, most of the protests have been peaceful, including the one Anthony marched in on Thursday.
Earlier in the week, Carmelo posted a message on Instagram for the people of Baltimore, saying “We need to protect our city, not destroy it.”
Knicks star Carmelo Anthony will reportedly miss the remainder of the season, as the team plans to announce his shutdown later today. Melo, who put off the inevitable in order to play in front of his home fans at the All-Star Game, will have knee surgery in the near future. Anthony will finish his campaign with averages of 24 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, and a steal on 44% shooting in 36 minutes of play. The 42 games missed will be a career-high for Melo.
Carmelo Anthony was named to his 8th All-Star team on Thursday.
Anthony will be one of the starters for the Eastern Conference in this year’s game, which will be played in Madison Square Garden— Melo’s home floor.
Carmelo will be joined in the Eastern lineup by LeBron James, John Wall, Kyle Lowry, and Pau Gasol. Marc Gasol, Anthony Davis, Stephen Curry, James Harden, and Kobe Bryant (who will be replaced due to injury) were voted in as starters for the West.
Carmelo Anthony has tried to play through his knee injury for the last week or two, but admitted Thursday that the pain is getting to him, and that people close to him are encouraging him to shut it down for at least a few weeks.
It had previously been reported that Melo might require surgery, but Anthony has made it clear that he will not do this unless he feels it is absolutely necessary.
Melo has always been a bit reckless when it comes to injuries— he always tries to avoid medical treatment, and allowed excess fluid in his knee to tank his performance for a couple weeks a couple seasons ago because he was “scared of needles.” Knicks doctors have told Melo that if he plays through this knee injury, it “won’t get worse, but it won’t get better.” After another setback in the game against Dallas on Tuesday, it looks like they might have been wrong about it not getting worse.
Melo definitely needs rest. And he probably needs surgery. The Knicks are NOT going anywhere this season, so he should probably get the surgery now, rather than get it in May or June (or not get it at all, or try to skip it and then need it next November) and throw away NEXT season as well in the process. Hopefully the Knicks (and Anthony) go about this the intelligent way.
On the flip side, it’s hard to get new stars to come team up with injured stars; we saw that with Derrick Rose this offseason. The Knicks might feel that they need to be respectable and need Melo to be healthy to have a shot at landing guys such as Marc Gasol this summer.
As things stand, Melo is day-to-day, questionable for every game, deciding whether or not to play based on how he feels on gameday. ESPN has some more details on the story.
-Tommy Rothman
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