Melo daps up young courtside fan, scores 24 as Knicks beat Pistons
It’s well established that Carmelo Anthony enjoys high-fiving America’s youth. Heck, he tried this summer to set a new Guinness World Record for most high-fives delivered in a half-minute at Nickelodeon’s 2015 Kids’ Choice Awards! Sure, he failed in that attempt, but it’s only really a failure if you stop trying, and the All-Star forward proved during Tuesday’s tilt between his New York Knicks and the Detroit Pistons that he’s still trying to bring at least a little bit of joy into the lives of young folks whenever he can … including when he’s waiting at the scorer’s table to re-enter the game:
[Follow Dunks Don’t Lie on Tumblr: The best slams from all of basketball]
That’s a pretty neat gesture by ‘Melo, who had plenty of reason to feel good on Tuesday, after passing Hal Greer to move into 32nd place on the NBA’s all-time scoring list:
… and hit a double-tough shot to beat the third-quarter buzzer:
… and generally did a little bit of everything, scoring a game-high 24 points on 11-for-24 shooting with six rebounds, a team-high six assists and one steal in 38 minutes of work to pace the Knicks to a 108-96 win over the visiting Pistons.
Anthony’s strong all-around night wasn’t the only thing worth watching for Knicks fans on Tuesday. They also got to see the Knicks’ bigs frustrate and dominate Pistons beast Andre Drummond, limiting him to 13 points and nine rebounds (seven below his season average) on 5-for-15 shooting, thanks in part to blocks like this one from center Robin Lopez:
Lopez finished with a season-high six blocks to go with 11 points, seven rebounds, two assists and a steal. Five other Knicks joined Anthony and Lopez in double figures, including Derrick Williams, who scored 16 of his 18 points in a fourth quarter highlighted by a pair of thunderous finishes:
Jose Calderon added 15 points on six shots for the Knicks, who snapped a four-game losing streak to improve to 15-18 on the season. Power forward Ersan Ilyasova scored 19 points with six rebounds and three steals, and Reggie Jackson and Marcus Morris each had 17 for Detroit, which has now lost three straight to fall to 17-15.
The Knicks improved to 11-2 this season in games in which they’ve scored 100 points. Trouble is, they’re not exactly consistent in their capacity to produce that kind of performance … which, oddly enough, has led to a certain consistency in their overall results:
At least ‘Melo’s new young friend came to the Garden on one of the good nights.
More NBA coverage:
– – – – – – –
Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
Stay connected with Ball Don’t Lie on Twitter @YahooBDL, “Like” BDL on Facebook and follow Dunks Don’t Lie on Tumblr for year-round NBA talk, jokes and more.
