New York Knicks: Players Meeting Straightens Ship, For Now

(Flickr.com photo by Keith Allison)

After a loss to the Charlotte Bobcats on Tuesday night, New York Knicks’ star Carmelo Anthony questioned the team’s effort so far this season. These frustrtions led Anthony to hold a players-only meeting to discuss the team’s struggles. Mainly, the team’s sloppy ball handling. The Knicks took care of the ball better than anyone else last year. This year it has been a different story. So far this season, the Knicks are averaging 16.8 turnovers a game, the 16th highest rate in the league.

"“You cannot turn the ball over if you want to be a good team in this league,” Anthony said. “Hopefully the conversation we had after that game made everybody realize that although it is early there are some things we need to fix and we need to fix now.“We shut the door after the game and talked it out a little bit and tried to figure out what was happening,” Anthony said of the players meeting. “Sometimes you need to get together and talk, communicate, let it all out, just try to figure what’s the problem, whats the issue.”"

The team seemed to respond to Anthony’s constructive criticism as they had their best win of the season in a rematch with the Bobcats on Friday. They beat the Bobcats 101-91 and only had 12 turnovers. Anthony led the team with 28 points and also contributed eight rebounds and six assists. Andrea Bargnani had his first breakout game while donning the orange and white. He had 25 points, eight rebounds, three assists and five blocks.

It seemed to be a must-win game for the Knicks. They lost their previous three and now have to fill the void of Tyson Chandler. Chandler is out at least four weeks with a broken leg. The loss is a crushing blow for the Knicks. Chandler has been the rock for the Knicks. He is the anchor of the defense and is one of the more consistent offensive players on the roster. Chandler’s injury puts the Knicks in a difficult position as their championship aspirations seem to be hindered, at least for the time being.

The Knicks had one of the easier schedules to begin the season, but have not taken care of business.

"“Nobody is happy right now,” Raymond Felton said on Thursday. “We weren’t expecting to be 1-3.”"

Felton believes the Knicks will soon steer the ship straight.

"“Everybody’s starting to panic a little bit but we’re fine. We’re going through a little slump right now but well get through it.”"

The Knicks next chance to put together a string of wins for the first time this year begins Sunday as they host the San Antonio Spurs.

[slider_pro id=”20″]