Hamilton: Melo vs. Durant On Sunday Could Be Historic On Many Levels

For the Knicks and for Anthony, legitimacy and respect are on the line, and for Anthony personally, so is a bit of history.

On Friday night, the Knicks celebrated the 40th anniversary of their 1973 championship team and hosted a bevy of Knicks legends and basketball Hall of Famers that included Phil Jackson, Walt “Clyde” Frazier, Bill Bradley, Earl Monroe and Willis Reid. In front of them, Anthony shot 17-of-28 from the field and scored 41 points.

He became the second Knick in history to score at least 40 points in three consecutive games. During the 1984-85 season, Anthony’s idol, Bernard King, became the first.

As a result, on Sunday, Anthony could become the first Knick to ever score at least 40 points in four consecutive games, and doing so may go a long way toward helping the Knicks to another first—a win in Oklahoma City.

Since the Thunder moved to Oklahoma City back in the Summer of 2008, the Knicks have lost all four contests they played at Chesapeake Energy Arena. The Knicks have lost each game in OKC by an average of 10.3 points and only came close back on Jan. 22, 2011.

Durant sunk the Knicks on a 3-pointer at the buzzer and secured a 101-98 win for his team. The Thunder overcame Amar’e Stoudemire’s 18-point, 12-rebound double-double and 23 mostly amazing points from Danilo Gallinari.

The misfortunes of the Knicks in OKC even extend to the New Orleans Hornets. After Hurricane Katrina caused the Hornets to temporarily relocate to Oklahoma City during the 2005-06 and 2006-07 seasons, the Knicks came up short both times against Chris Paul and his former team.

So Anthony will attempt to topple Durant for the first time as a Knick and give the franchise its first win in the city.

After Anthony turned in his league leading eighth 40-point game in the Knicks’ 101-83 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks on Friday night, Mike Woodson could only marvel at Anthony’s recent play.

“That is what the great ones do,” Woodson said with a shrug. “He is special, that’s all I can say.”

Anthony has averaged 43.7 points over the Knicks last three games and, as a result, has managed to close Durant’s lead in the race for the scoring title to just .05 points.

Durant leads, 28.37 to 28.32.

A source close to Anthony gave assurances that the scoring title is not what is driving him at this point, though.

“He hasn’t been worried about that since back when Kobe was lighting it up,” the source said.

That was a reference to Bryant’s winning the scoring title back in the 2006-07 season. Anthony finished second in the scoring race with an average of 28.9 points per game. Though Anthony came close, Bryant pulled away from him over the final 12 days of the regular season. In that span, Bryant averaged 36.2 points per game, including a 46-point effort and two 50-point efforts.

“Melo is not interested in competing with Durant for the scoring title,” the source added. “He just wants to win and all he cares about is keeping this winning streak going.”

And for those that have been around Anthony, his energy and focus seems different. Back in December, he went on record as saying that this season would be a failure for him and his Knicks if the team failed to win 50 games and “at least” get to the Eastern Conference Finals.

To this point, Anthony has made good and afterward, dismissed any talk of the scoring title driving him. According to him, Anthony just wants to be playing his best basketball entering the postseason.

“I didn’t even know anything about the record,” Anthony said after being told that he tied King’s long-standing Knicks record. “It’s a great class to be a part of, though. It’s a big honor.”

When asked about the mood and energy about the team, he was upbeat. “We feel like we’re in a real good place, a real positive place,” he said. “The energy is positive,  on the court, off the court, in the locker room, just overall, we’re feeding off of each other and our confidence is growing and growing each day.”

According to Anthony, his recent tear is nothing more than him returning to his pre-injury form and getting ready for the playoffs. “I always take it back to my knee,” he said. “I think that was the most important thing that could have happened to me at that point in time, just taking care of it and getting to the bottom of that and getting back to playing the way I was playing prior to the weeks when my knee was bothering me.”

In terms of his scoring barrage, Anthony was asked what has gotten into him lately. All he could do was chuckle and offer a simple and direct response. “It’s April, I guess,” he said. “It’s time to go.”

And now, the Knicks will pack their bags and travel to Oklahoma City.

On a personal level, Anthony will renew his friendly rivalry with Durant and try to make some history—both for himself, personally, and his team.

And maybe with a win, the Knicks and Anthony can each get the respect that ending the team’s almost 20-year division title drought deserves.

Moke Hamilton is a Senior NBA Columnist for SheridanHoops whose columns appear here on Tuesdays and Fridays. Follow him on Twitter: @MokeHamilton