addByline("Marc D'Amico", "Celtics.com", "Marc_DAmico");
NEW YORK – Carmelo Anthony might be playing the best team basketball of his 13-year career. However, heading into tonight's matchup between the Celtics and Knicks at Madison Square Garden, Jae Crowder and the C's are confident that they can contain the all-world forward.
Anthony scored a game-high 29 points when these teams last faced off on Dec. 27, however, he also led the game in in inefficiency.
Boston's defense, led by the efforts of Crowder, forced Anthony to miss 15 of his game-high 26 field goal attempts. Anthony actually missed more shots than any other player attempted in the game, with the exception of Isaiah Thomas, who fired up 18 field goals for Boston.
That type of inefficiency is exactly what Boston wants to bring out of Anthony while he’s at the offensive end of the floor tonight.
“You’ve got to make it tough for him and make him a jump shooter,” Crowder said.
Crowder also noted that a key to defending Anthony well is to stay on the ground and “jump second.” Anthony loves to use the pump fake. He will oftentimes save his release until after he has thrown two or more fakes to get the defender off-balance and open up a clear sight toward the basket.
Thanks to great instincts and reactions, Crowder has been fantastic at staying on his feet against ‘Melo since joining the C’s. The two have faced off twice since Crowder’s arrival in Boston, and Anthony has shot just 20-for-49 during those games, good for 40.8 percent.
Limiting Anthony to such numbers may prove to be more difficult tonight than it has been in the past. The forward is on quite the hot streak, as he has hit 54.1 percent of his shots inside the arc during seven games this month.
Another weapon of Anthony’s repertoire, passing, has been showcased much more often during the month of January. He has dished out an average of 5.0 assists per game this month, which is well above his career average of 3.1 APG, and it has benefited the Knicks on a large scale.
As Brad Stevens put it, “When he draws two people, he usually delivers the ball, and that’s been consistent.”
Stevens also added that, “At the end of the day, that guy makes shots that other people can’t make.”
Anthony has made such shots against Boston in the past; he even did so during his matchup against the C's on Dec. 27. But the Celtics will live with him hitting a few of those awe-inspiring attempts as long as he misses many more.
Crowder and the Celtics want to turn Anthony into a bulk shooter, rather than a bulk scorer. They’ve accomplished that goal in the past and want to do so again tonight at the World’s Most Famous Arena.