However, the New York Knicks are very good this year. The Knicks have the best record in the Eastern Conference at 15-5. Melo has a supporting cast that is winning games and stroking threes like nobody's business, with the likes of Tyson Chandler, J.R. Smith, Jason Kidd, and Steve "Novakane" Novak (Arguably one of the best active 3-point shooters in the NBA). When the Knicks get Amar'e Stoudemire and sophmore Iman Shumpert back from injury, the Knicks stand to get even better then they are right now.
New York has soundly beat the defending NBA champions twice, by an average of 20 points a game. So with all of these factors present the question, Is this the year for Carmelo? Is this the year for the Knicks? Can they both win 16 playoff games and hoist the Larry O'Brien in June? Only time can tell.
The last couple of years have held quite a bit in store for one of the NBA's most famous franchises, the Knicks. Especially last year, the New York Knicks went through a great deal of changes and extremes, embodied wholeheartedly by last year's world-wide phenomenon "Lin-sanity". With the infusion of a sophomore point guard who had rode the D-league and the bench for most of his rookie season, The Knicks rocketed (ha, irony) into the spotlight, winning 7 straight games and ridding the wave of ridiculousness that was Jeremy Lin.
The Knicks would then add Melo back into the starting 5 and would proceed to lose 7 of the next 8 games, and led to the eventual resignation of head coach Mike D'Antoni. New York would then to go on to bounce back with interim coach Mike Woodson, going 18-6.
Clinching a second-straight playoff spot, the Knicks would draw the short straw and face the eventual NBA Champion Heat. The Knicks would win one playoff game, breaking a streak of 13-playoff losses, but would eventually lose in a gentleman's sweep to the Heat, 4-1. Players such as Jeremy Lin, Shumpert, and Baron Davis were all out due to knee injuries during the series.
Even though the Knicks lost players such as Jeremy Lin and Landry Fields to free-agency during the summer, New York came back with a punch going 6-0 in their first 6 games this season, having the best start since 1993. The Knicks have since gone on to win 9 more times with 5 losses. Their 15-5 record is the most wins in the Eastern Conference and is tied for the least losses in the Eastern Conference. So Carmelo Anthony finally has the supporting cast and will most likely have a great team record come playoff time.
The question still remains: Is this Melo's year to win?
Carmelo Anthony entered the league in 2003 with the Denver Nuggets, where he became known for being a player who could light up the score board, becoming the second-youngest player to score 40 points in a game. The Nuggets, led by Anthony, would become a perennial playoff contender, making the playoffs every year that Anthony was there. They would break their streak of first-round exits in the 08-09 season when they went all the way to the Western Conference Finals. Denver would eventually lose 4-2 to the Lakers. Two years later, Carmelo would be traded to the Knicks. Carmelo and the Knicks playoff woes would continue in the 10-11 season, losing to the Celtics in 4 games, and in the 2011-2012 season, losing to the Heat in 5 games.
Carmelo has received his share of accolades over the years, being selected to the All-Rookie first team, making 5 All-Star appearances, and winning 2 Olympic gold medals.
The only thing missing? The title of NBA champion. The accolade stating that for that year, you and your team and no one else, were the best in the world. With Lebron James securing his first title, Carmelo is the only player left at his age and talent level that hasn't won a championship.
The pressure will either get to him, much as the pressure got to Lebron against the Mavs two years ago, or Carmelo will rise to the occasion and secure himself the one accolade that puts him in a whole 'nother ball park of great players.
Will this be the year?
