The New York Knicks are relevant again as they are 10-12 and firmly in the hunt for a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Rookie Kristaps Porzingis has been a huge surprise for the Knicks this season as he has been their best player and it looks like they have found something in the 20 year old. If the Knicks want to make a playoff push though, they will need their star player, Carmelo Anthony, to play better than he has so far this season. Anthony though, still doesn't think he is fully back from the knee surgery he had last season, according to Ian Begley of ESPN New York.
Anthony leads the Knicks in scoring with 21.5 points per game but his shooting percentage is down around 40 percent, which is five points lower than his career average, and his PER is at 19.8 which is still good but not nearly as good as he is used to. Anthony feels like the knee isn't as strong as it is going to be when it is fully healed as he says he has the full strength some nights but on other nights it just isn't there.
"Right now it's still a healing process. For me, I know I want to be doing better. I want the team to be doing better. So all of that frustration starts setting in," said Anthony.
The Knicks overall have lost six of their last eight games despite the fact that Porzingis has been playing great and although the Knicks roster isn't exactly loaded, Anthony's subpar play hasn't exactly helped their cause either. Anthony has only missed one game so far this season but that had nothing to do with his knee as he was dealing with an illness on November 29th against the Houston Rockets so give him credit for going out there every night even though he doesn't feel his knee is 100 percent.
The Knicks fancy themselves a playoff team in the East and have since before the season started but one of the things they were banking on was a great year from Melo and that hasn't happened yet. Porzingis' tremendous play has somewhat outweighed Anthony's play so far this season but if the Knicks want to go anywhere they will need Anthony's knee to be at 100 percent so he can get back to the player who regularly has a PER around 24.
