After dropping 40 points and leading the Knicks to their 10th straight win Wednesday night over the Atlanta Hawks, Carmelo Anthony said he liked both the Knicks and Syracuse to win championships this season.
No surprise, really.
But Melo — who has exploded for 90 points in the last two nights — seems pretty confident about the Knicks’ chances after they beat the Atlanta Hawks, 95-82. The Knicks haven’t lost since a March 17 defeat at the L.A. Clippers.
“That’s what it’s all about,” Anthony told ESPN about a potential NBA championship. “I done did it on all levels, high school, college, Olympic gold medal, so now I think it’s time for an NBA title.”
The Knicks improved to 3-1 against the Miami Heat after Tuesday’s 102-90 win in Miami in which in LeBron James and Dwyane Wade sat out. Melo went off half a hundred in the victory, and feels confident against them in a possible Eastern Conference Finals matchup.
“I mean, I like my chances, I like my chances,” Melo said. “When we with the Heat, we going to deal with that at that point in time.
“But right now, we’re not worried about the Heat, I don’t think they worried about us right now. They focused on what they need to focus on. And when we meet with them, we’ll be prepared for that.”
Melo praised teammate J.R. Smith, who scored 19 points against Atlanta and on Monday was named the Eastern Conference Player of the Week.
“We don’t have all our pieces but as of right now with what we have….we’re back to where we were at the beginning of the season [when the Knicks started 18-5],” Melo said.
“To speak on J.R. Smith, I’m just seeing so much growth in him as a person, as a player. When he plays the way he’s been playing over these last couple weeks, we’re a tough team out there.”
The game was played in Atlanta — site of the Final Four — and a group of Syracuse fans chanted, “MVP, MVP” in support of Melo’s efforts.
Syracuse meets Michigan Saturday in one national semifinal, with Louisville facing Wichita State in the first game.
“Oh, we going all the way,” Melo said. “We going all the way. I’m not taking nothing away from Michigan, but we going all the way.”
The last time Syracuse was in the Final Four, Melo led the Orange to the NCAA championship in 2003.
“I still to this day, I can’t believe that I won a national championship by first year,” Melo said. “But the way we came together as a team, we had so much trust in one another, we had each other’s back. We had fun throughout the course of that season.”
Photo: Daily News
