Former New York Knicks star Amar’e Stoudemire appeared on the latest episode of The OGs Show where he seemingly took a shot at Carmelo Anthony. When co-host Udonis Haslem asked Stoudemire about him cutting his hand by punching a fire extinguisher during a playoff series, the big man explained why he was so frustrated.
“The ball wasn’t moving,” Stoudemire said. “… We dealt with it all season long, right? The ball just wasn’t moving, the guys weren’t able to be great. When I first got to New York, the one thing I wanted to do was make sure everybody felt like they were involved.
“Wilson Chandler had a career year… (Danilo) Gallinari had a career year, (Raymond) Felton,” Stoudemire continued. “I got Timofey Mozgov paid… My thing was that’s how we can be a great team… That entire season the ball wasn’t moving. Then (we) get to the playoffs and it’s still happening, so I’m frustrated.”
That sure does seem like a shot fired at Anthony. Stoudemire claims he tried to get everyone involved when he joined the Knicks in 2010 as a free agent. He believed that was the key to success, but the ball had stopped moving by the time that first-round playoff series against the Miami Heat came around in 2012. What had happened in between? Well, the Knicks traded for Anthony from the Denver Nuggets in 2011.
Anthony had a reputation for being a ball-stopper and it certainly wasn’t underserved. He was the definition of an iso-scorer and to his credit, was one of the best in the business.
It’s often said, however, that Anthony’s brand of basketball wasn’t conducive to winning and the Knicks didn’t do a lot of that during his time there. They did make the playoffs in 2011, 2012, and 2013, but only won one playoff series.
One of those losses was to the Heat in 2012. It was after Game 2 in that series that Stoudemire punched the fire extinguisher and he missed Game 3 due to it. He helped the Knicks win Game 4 on his return but was powerless to prevent the Heat from knocking them out in five games.
Stoudemire certainly has to take a chunk of the blame for that series loss and also for his time with Anthony on the Knicks being a massive disappointment. He impressed in his first season, averaging 25.3 points, 8.2 rebounds, 2.6 assists, 0.9 steals, and 1.9 blocks per game in 2010-11, but the injury bug then struck.
Stoudemire was a shell of himself in the seasons that followed and it played a big role in the Knicks never quite becoming the dominant force that some expected them to be. Had he stayed healthy, that Knicks era might have been looked at differently.
As for Anthony, he isn’t blameless for the Knicks only really having one good season in his time there (54 wins in 2012-13). While he didn’t always have a lot of help, there were things he could have done to make them more successful.
Anthony was never really able to elevate his teammates in a way that some other superstars have and that was partly down to his style of play. Also, when he did get some help with the rise of Jeremy Lin and Linsanity in 2012, he didn’t seem too comfortable with someone stealing the spotlight. Former Knick Baron Davis stated that Linsanity did create some tension in that locker room and you wonder how differently things might have panned out had they fully embraced Lin.
Anthony’s time with the Knicks would come to an end in 2017 as he was traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder. His arrival in 2011 had promised much, but he failed to deliver for one reason or another.
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