Carmelo Stars For Knicks; Howard Leads Lakers

In the Sunday matinee, Carmelo Anthony scored 27 points and J.R. Smith was red-hot — 20 PTS, 9 REB in 35 minutes — to lead the Knicks to an easy win. In a great example of the new “position-less NBA,” Melo (admittedly a tall SF) actually played the 5 for a while, surrounded by guards. Jason Kidd had a nice afternoon: 12 PTS, 6 AST, 3 STL and two 3-pointers.

The Sixers lost Jason Richardson to an ankle injury in the second minute; Nick Young had to play 32 minutes and was -29, hitting just 2 of 10 shots. Jrue Holiday scored 27 and Thaddeus Young 16 without ever getting their team into the game. The teams square off again in Philly tonight.

Other November 4 Games

PHO @ ORL: With starting PG Jameer Nelson (groin/hamstring) unavailable, and Hedo Turkoglu out for about a month with a broken hand, the Magic came up with some lineup sleight-of-hand. DeQuan Jones started at SF but did nothing of note in 16 minutes; it was J.J. Redick who sparked the team with 24 points in 34 minutes off the bench. E’Twaun Moore (15 PTS, 6 AST, 3 REB, 3 STL) filled in capably at the point, and C Nikola Vucevic (18 PTS, 13 REB) had perhaps the best game of his young career. Arron Afflalo and Glen Davis added 22 points apiece.

The Suns were up by 10 at halftime and down by 10 after three quarters. Being outscored 69-38 in the second half qualifies as a collapse. Luis Scola (24) and Michael Beasley (22) were not to blame, and Marcin Gortat (14 PTS, 11 REB, 4 BLK) contributed, but Jared Dudley (3 PTS in 25 minutes) was a dud and nobody got hot off the bench.

MIN @ TOR: We can’t say enough about Kyle Lowry. 22 points on 8-10 shooting with two 3-pointers, 7 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals is there in black-and-white, but his intangibles are off the charts and he makes his teammates better. DeMar DeRozan (22) actually grabbed 7 rebounds and 3 steals! It was another learning experience for Jonas Valanciunas, another disappearing act for Landry Fields and a truly awful night for Andrea Bargnani (4-16 with one lonely rebound) but unheralded Alan Anderson hit four 3-pointers and scored 18 off the bench as the Raptors finished strong for their first win.

Andrei Kirilenko was outstanding in defeat (17 PTS, 6 REB, 3 AST, 3 BLK) and Nikola Pekovic added 15, but the Wolves had no bite. Brandon Roy looked a step slow, turned it over five times and missed all three of his shots, putting a damper on his comeback attempt. J.J. Barea scored 9 points in 7:35 then hit his head on the floor and left with a mild concussion that makes him iffy for tonight. Greg Steimsma is kind of a one-trick pony in fantasy, blocking four more shots in just 17 minutes.

DET @ LAL: Mike Bresnahan of the L.A. Times said that Steve Nash could miss up to four weeks with the fracture in his shin. The team didn’t need him in steamrolling the Pistons. Dwight Howard (28 PTS, 7 REB, 3 BLK, 2 STL) was more than enough. Kobe Bryant scored 15, adding 7 REB and 8 AST, while Metta World Peace had his best game of the young season: 18 PTS, 3-6 from 3-point range, 5 REB and 4 AST. Temporary PG Steve Blake scored only six points but 6 AST, 5 REB and 5 STL made the line pretty solid.

The disastrous shooting slump continues for Rodney Stuckey, who missed all six attempts and is now 1-23 for the season. I don’t like to own guys who shoot 40%, let alone 4%; he has been struggling with migraine headaches that are becoming contagious to his fantasy owners. I would have had a very nice night in my FanDuel leagues if Brandon Knight had played better; he missed 7-of-8 shots and had five TO in just 23 minutes. With 18 off the bench, Jonas Jerebko was the lone bright spot for the Pistons in this debacle.