Carmelo Anthony secured his place in NBA history once again on Friday night after the New York Knicks star put up 62 points in a 125-96 win over the Charlotte Bobcats. Now he will look to follow-up that performance against the Los Angeles Lakers as the Western Conference team comes to Madison Square Garden.
Building on the highest individual scoring effort in that arena will certainly not be easy, but facing the struggling Lakers will make it much easier. Anthony's performance Friday was nothing short of historical. The star had 56 points after three quarters, the best performance of anyone this season. He broke Kobe Byrant's pervious record of 60 points just a few minutes in the fourth quarter. Sitting at No. 2 in the scoring rank behind Kevin Durant, Anthony shot 23 of 35 from the field and hit all 3-point shots.
Anthony will once again be relied heavily on as a number of the Knicks players are facing injuries. Andrea Bargnani, Amare Stoudemire, Metta World Peace and Kenyon Martin are all either ruled out or questionable for the Saturday afternoon matchup against the Lakers. Los Angeles is in a similar position as Steve Blake, Jordan Farmar, Xavier Henry and Steve Nash will all be out along with Bryant.
Even with the injuries, Los Angeles should be nervous to face the hot-handed Anthony. The seven-time All-Star has averaged 29.5 points on 53.7 percent shooting in his last six games against the Lakers dating back to his time in Denver.
Los Angeles has been free falling for much of the season. Their defense will be put to the test against Anthony. The team has been allowing a league-worst 113.2 points per game while dropping their last nine of 12 games during a long road trip.
Offensively, Pau Gasol is going his best to lead the team. He finished with 21 points and 11 rebounds against the Orland Marshall. Jodie Meeks put up 17 while Kendall MArshall added 19. Gasol has been averaging 21.9 points in his last seven games which could work well against a weak New York defense.