Anthony’s Olympic Play Bodes Well for the Knicks

Chang W. Lee/The New York TimesCarmelo Anthony, shooting, in the quarterfinal game against Australia on Wednesday.

At its current trajectory, the United States team’s run to the podium on Sunday – barring the near impossible – will be remembered as the golden conclusion to the Summer of LeBron.
After notching USA Basketball’s first-ever triple double (11 points, 14 rebounds and 12 assists) in the team’s 119-86 win over Australia on Wednesday night, that only seems appropriate. As will any of LeBron James’s dynastic N.B.A. feats in the seasons to come.
But it has been the performance of another American – the only one, in fact, with whom James has shared both the bitter disappointment of Athens bronze and golden redemption in Beijing – that has Knicks fans hoping for a career-defining carry-over: Carmelo Anthony.
Anthony’s statistics – in under 17 minutes a game, he is averaging 17.3 points a game on 57 percent shooting (including 53 percent from beyond the slightly abridged international 3-point arc), 4.5 rebounds and just 3 turnovers – have been by nearly every measure better than in both 2004 and 2008.