Shorthanded New York Knicks show signs of growth during Carmelo Anthony's return

* Recap: Knicks 111, Thunder 96

Carmelo Anthony was touched by the video tribute put together by the New York Knicks to start the evening. He also was skeptical of the NBA schedule that had his Oklahoma City team playing at Madison Square Garden at the end of a tough, emotional road trip, hinting at some sort of league or broadcast conspiracy.

But by the end of the night, there was a familiar outcome – Anthony’s team losing at MSG – but with a twist: the Knicks and their fans have some reasons for optimism as they hurtle toward a new calendar year. Per Ian Begley’s ESPN.com report:

The Knicks somehow beat Anthony and the Oklahoma City Thunder by 15 points with New York’s top two scorers sitting on the bench due to injury. The Knicks have won four straight, and at 16-13, they will wake up Sunday in a four-way tie for the fourth-best record in the Eastern Conference.

“We’re improving every day, it seems like,” said New York head coach Jeff Hornacek. “We’re not having the same mistakes [repeatedly], so I think the guys are getting it and they’re feeling good about what they’re doing.”

[…]

With Kristaps Porzingis and Tim Hardaway Jr. sidelined, the Knicks needed big nights from players they haven’t relied on regularly.

And they got them.

Thanks to impressive performances from Michael Beasley, Courtney Lee, Ron Baker, Doug McDermott and Kyle O’Quinn, New York shot 55 percent from the field and had 21 assists on 38 made field goals against OKC. Hornacek and his players saw that as evidence that they are “playing the right way” — which is a euphemism for using ball movement and constant player movement to create open shots.

Even Anthony acknowledged that this season’s Knicks team has it going on in a way his team didn’t in his final few seasons in the Big Apple. “For me just to see those guys having fun again,” he said, “knowing that it wasn’t fun — the fun was lost over the past couple of seasons — to see those guys having fun again, bringing that energy, bringing that love back to the game, back to the Garden, is something that I’m happy for those guys when it comes to that.”

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