MIAMI — Carmelo Anthony has starred in a couple playoff episodes of “Miami Ice.”
In the Knicks’ Game 1 loss to the Heat, Anthony delivered a 3-for-15 stinker. In the second half of last night’s 104-94 Game 2 loss, he went more than 18 minutes without hitting a shot.
“We have confidence. Our confidence is going nowhere,” Anthony said. “We know we can win on our home court. We’ll move on to the next game.”
The star forward was brilliant in the first half last night, pouring in 21 points on 9-for-18 shooting and completely carrying the Knicks, but could not keep them in the game in the second half. Anthony finished with a game-high 30 points, scoring just nine in the second half on 3-for-8 shooting.
He hit his first attempt of the third quarter, a jumper 39 seconds in. But he then missed five straight shots, not converting another basket until a meaningless 4:16 remained in the game.
“We just tried to play to our identity, put multiple bodies on him, try to wear on him, make his catches tough,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said, “but he’s a great player.”
It would be unfair to blame Anthony for the Knicks’ loss — they would have been thumped by 25 if not for his first half — but his performance in the series is worrisome.
He’s 0-for-5 from three-point range (0-for-2 in Game 1, 0-for-3 last night) and didn’t create much for his teammates in Game 2, finishing with just one assist.
After beginning Game 1 by missing his first seven shots, Anthony connected on his first two attempts last night and got his jumper working. He poured in 15 points in the first quarter, including a thunderous driving one-handed dunk over Joel Anthony.
“He’s a prolific scorer,” Spoelstra said. “When he’s got it going like that, I don’t know if there’s a better shotmaker in the league.”
In the second half, though, Anthony began clanging. After his jumper early in the third, his next five shots all came up empty. By the time he scored again from the field, on a late-fourth quarter jumper, he merely cut the Heat’s lead to 11.
—Additional reporting by Fred Kerber