New York Knicks: Why NY Must Be Concerned About Carmelo Anthony's Struggles

It's been a nice couple of weeks for the New York Knicks, since interim head coach Mike Woodson took over for former head coach Mike D'Antoni.

You can't argue with the success. A 6-1 record, combined with scoring 100.9 points per game during that stretch means that things are clicking on the offensive end of the floor. Add to that, allowing a mere 86.6 points per game means that things are clicking on the defensive end of the floor for once.

The camaraderie is there and the Knicks are playing great team basketball at the moment.

There's nothing to worry about in the Big Apple right now, right?

Wrong.

Despite their recent success, Woodson and the Knicks have to have some concern about the struggles of forward Carmelo Anthony. He simply can't shoot the ball right now and for the Knicks to make a serious run in the East, he's going to have to find a way out of his shooting slump.

It's really not that big of a deal at the moment because the Knicks are winning and Anthony's contributing in other areas. But eventually the Knicks are going to need Anthony's scoring and if they can't rely on him to knock down shots, they could be in trouble.

Overall, Anthony's having by far the worst year of his career. He's averaging a career-low 20.0 PPG, but the disturbing part is his career-worst .399 field goal percentage.

Anthony's shot is lost and he's frustrated, even telling MSG.com's Allan Hahn:

"I'm looking for it," he said. "So if anybody finds it, tell me."

We know Melo was frustrated under D'Antoni, so let's just take a look at his production since Woodson took over.

Anthony's averaged only 14.0 PPG in the seven games under Woodson on only 36-of-94 (.383) shooting.

I'm not overly worried about the points right now since the Knicks are getting scoring from other places. The troublesome thing is that he's not making shots. There will be games that everyone else isn't shooting well and on those nights, they need Anthony to up his game.

Take the Toronto loss for instance. Those are the type of moments Anthony needs to take over, but he can't do that until he regains his scoring touch. He's taking plenty of shots, he's just not knocking them down.

In addition to his overall struggles, Anthony is only 5-of-24 (.208) from behind the arc. The three-point shot isn't typically Anthony's strength, but it shouldn't be a total weakness either.

However, the one thing that makes Anthony the scorer he is isn't there either, and that's the ability to get to the free-throw line.

Melo's attempted only 29 free throws in seven games, making only 19 of them (.655). He actually went two games in a row without making a free throw, a combined 0-of-1 against Philadelphia and Toronto.

It's a careful line you don't want to cross. There's no need to mess up what's going good at the moment. You don't want Anthony chucking up an insane amount of shots in an attempt to shoot his way out of his funk, but he's got to start knocking down the shots he takes on a more consistent basis.

Everything is good in the Big Apple right now, but the Knicks are going to need his production down the stretch.

Anthony's going to have to be prepared to deliver.