AUBURN HILLS, Mich. -- Let's hope last night's game is as bad it gets for Carmelo Anthony as a Knick, that this rock-bottom disaster is out of his system well before April's playoffs.
Anthony was miserable in every phase at The Palace, right down to blowing off the media, storming out of the locker room and heading for the team bus while reporters huddled around Chauncey Billups.
Anthony's awful night led to a Knicks' fourth-quarter choke of an 11-point lead and a terrible 99-95 loss to the pathetic Pistons (25-44) after being outscored 29-17 in the final period.
While Anthony blew off the media in a poor show of leadership, Stoudemire gave a pointed message directed at his new teammate and close friend about buying more into coach Mike D'Antoni's move-the-ball, up-tempo offense rather than his own freelancing.
"We have to subscribe to the Mike D'Antoni system, it works," Stoudemire, the team's captain, said after the defeat. "I've been part of it for a long time now. It's been very successful. We have to buy into it and get it done."
Stoudemire said the new guys have to adapt to D'Antoni's system, because it's effective.
"That's the way we're going to win," he said. "We've proven it works with the team we had before the trade, and it could work with the guys we have now. It's a matter of us buying into it. It's new for most of the guys, so it takes time to understand how it works. Over time it will grow on them. Hopefully it turns around soon."