The trade deadline has come and gone and the New York Knicks will ride out the remainder of the season with their current roster intact. Carmelo Anthony, Iman Shumpert and Raymond Felton will all finish out the disappointing year and figure out their futures later. With the drama of the trading period behind them, the Knicks aim to earn back-to-back wins on Friday night, facing the Orlando Magic on the road.
Anthony vows to remain focused on the year instead of his pending free agency which is what everyone else will keep an eye on. The guard will opt out of his current deal and test the market, but is not ruling out a return to New York if they add stars to play with him. New York planned to do that at the trade deadline, but never finalized a single deal. A knee injury to Shumpert certainly did not help the cause. The young star has a sprained MCL, but no team was willing to take the risk.
Anthony will continue to carry the Knicks on his back. He is somehow keeping the team in play for the playoffs as the boarder a spot in the Eastern Conference standings. He started the second half of the season off well putting up 42 points on Wednesday. Anthony is averaging 32.0 points per game in his last 12 starts. JR Smith is helping. He added 19 points in the win while Tim Hardaway Jr produced 16 off the bench.
Anthony and the Knicks have fared well against Magic, winning eight-straight games. Anthony has averaged 19.0 points against Orlando in that stretch. The Magic have lost three-straight games after losing to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday. Aaron Afflalo who also avoided the trade deadline put up 23 points, but it was not enough to get the team a win. The Magic just said goodbye to Glen Davis and hope to get some wins without him.
