Melo proves he's still the go to guy with game winner against the T'Wolves
Carmelo Anthony has not shot the ball well of late. He's looked slow and fatigued like maybe he has lost a step over his last three games. Last Friday he had his best game of the season with a 35/14/5 outing in an overtime win over the Hornets where he hit the game winner with three seconds left. Since then Melo has shot 26% from the field on 60 field goal attempts including last night in Minnesota. With Kristaps Porzingis blossoming into a superstar in only his second season there have been questions of late as to who's team this is. Porzingis is clearly the future and Melo isn't getting any younger. He's still an all-star caliber player in this league, but there's no doubt that his best days are probably behind him. All the signs point to this being KP's team, but Carmelo reminded Knick fans last night why he's still the Knick's main man when the game is on the line.
For the first 34 minutes of last night's game Melo did not play well at all. He shot 4-15 from the field and once again looked completely off his game. He wasn't getting any separation from the defense and he wasn't hitting his open looks. Despite his struggles the Knicks still looked to Melo with the game tied at 104 on their last possession. After blowing a 17 point lead in the fourth quarter the game looked like it was getting away from the Knicks. The Knicks have had a rough time on the road early in the season going 1-6 so last night was a game they simply could not blow. With the clock running down under 10 seconds the ball was in Melo's hand on the wing in an iso situation Knick fans have come to despise of late. Kristaps Porzingis had already put 29 on the night, but was standing on the opposite corner of the court helpless as the clock winded down. Luckily for the Knicks the iso play call for their aging star worked as Melo drilled a jumper over Andrew Wiggins with two seconds left on the clock. For the second time in four games and only the second time since 2012 Melo hit a game winner with under five seconds on the clock.
I breathed a huge sigh of relief as the Wolves failed to tie the game on the game's final possession knowing that a loss last night would have been devastating. There' s no such thing as a must win this early in the season, but those are the kinds of games you cannot blow if you have playoff aspirations. As much as I would have loved to see the Knicks run a play for KP in that spot I wasn't surprised at all to see Melo take the last shot. This is still Melo's team and Jeff Hornacek trusts him more than anybody to hit the big shot when the game is on the line. It may not have been pretty, but the Knicks will take any win they can get on the road given their early seasons struggles.
In Monday night's game at the Garden against the Thunder Melo was hearing some boos for holding onto the ball and chucking up contested shots. He wasn't involving his teammates and he kept shooting despite his very poor shooting percentage. He did more of the same during the Knick's near collapse last night, but that didn't stop him from wanting to take the big shot in crunch time. As much as I hate to see Melo isolate too much the Knicks got as good of a look as you could ask for in a last shot situation. Melo may have lost a step, but he's still one of the toughest one on one covers in the league. Part of the luxury of having someone like Melo is his ability to make something out of nothing. You hate when he disrupts the flow of the offense during the middle of a game, but with the clock running down he's still the best option on this team to take the last shot. Eventually, that role will go to Kristaps Porzingis as he continues to progress as a player and demand the ball in those situations, but not yet.
Knick fans may not love it, but Melo is still the guy whose either going to be the hero or the goat with the game on the line. He can have as bad as a game as he did for most of last night, but that's not going to affect his confidence taking the last shot and it never will. It might not be the best strategy, but fortunately for the Knicks the clutch gene has returned to Melo this season.
