DALLAS — On a night of happy homecomings and warm sentiments, the Knicks’ final expression was a scowl, a mixture of frustration, disappointment and confusion.
Tyson Chandler got his championship ring, Amar’e Stoudemire found his stride and the Knicks staged a spectacular fourth-quarter rally Tuesday night against the Dallas Mavericks. But the night ended with another loss, 95-85, and renewed concerns about the Knicks’ esprit de corps — and specifically about the mental state of their franchise star.
Carmelo Anthony appeared disengaged for most of the night, shot poorly (2 for 12) and came up empty when he returned for the final four minutes of the game after the Knicks’ bench got them back in the game. He finished with 6 points.
Afterward, Anthony left without speaking to reporters, saying, “Not tonight” as he moved quickly down an arena hallway. He was on the bus for 10 minutes before returning to speak with a handful of reporters, apparently after being summoned. He spoke briefly, and quietly, sounding somewhere between frustrated and deflated.
“We lost,” Anthony said, his eyes shaded by tinted glasses. “Losses don’t sit well with me.”
After their Jeremy Lin-inspired surge in February, the Knicks have begun to slide again, losing five of their last eight games — a trend that began when Anthony, J. R. Smith and Baron Davis joined the rotation. Their chemistry is again in flux, and Anthony is clearly struggling to find his way in a new, Lin-centric offense.
He admitted as much, saying: “I think anytime you go from the early part of the season, just having the ball and me just having the ball and being the distributor, and now just running the wings and waiting for the ball to come to me, that’s quite an adjustment for myself.”
It is an adjustment that Anthony and the Knicks (18-20) will have to make soon, before they lose their hold on a playoff spot. They are 0-2 on this trip, with another difficult game ahead Wednesday in San Antonio and a late-season schedule packed with playoff-bound teams. They have 28 games to reestablish an identity and get Anthony back in the fold.
“I think we all are adjusting, we all are sacrificing for the betterment of the team,” said Amar’e Stoudemire, who had a resurgent game with 26 points and 7 rebounds. “That’s what it takes to win a championship. You got to sacrifice in order to get to that point.”
For the second straight game, the Knicks dug themselves an early hole, climbed out of it, then dug another and jumped in with two feet. They trailed by 14 in the first quarter and by 19 in the third before the Knicks’ reserves sparked a late rally. Dirk Nowitzki was uncontainable in the second half, when he scored 24 of his 28 points.
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