SALT LAKE CITY — Carmelo Anthony reclined on a padded seat Wednesday morning, speaking of his shooting touch as an impermanent entity, a feeling that comes and goes without much warning.
“Some days the rhythm is kind of there,” he said as the Knicks wound down their morning shootaround, “and some days the rhythm is not.”
That night, the Knicks lost to the Utah Jazz, 106-85, and it was clear within moments of the opening tipoff that Anthony’s shooting rhythm had not made it to Salt Lake City.
Anthony heaved up two shots within the first 65 seconds and missed them both. The Knicks had already fallen behind, 23-8, when Anthony launched his third attempt, from 21 feet, which clanged wide. With about four minutes left in the quarter, Anthony drew a shooting foul in the paint, but he made only one of his two free throws.
It went like that all night. One minute later, Anthony brought the ball up the court and pulled up at the top of the 3-point arc for his fourth field-goal attempt, which missed well short. A minute after that, he took a seat on the bench and watched as the Knicks finished the quarter on the wrong end of a 29-11 score.
The game was over, and there were still three full periods left to play. Anthony scored just 12 points while shooting 3 of 11 from the field and had four turnovers.
“Personally, as a competitor, it kind of gets frustrating because I know I put so much work in on those parts of my game,” Anthony said Monday morning of his recent play. “When it doesn’t work out, I kind of beat myself up.”
The frustration kept building as the Knicks, who were starting a three-game trip, lost for the seventh time in nine games.
After the game, Coach Derek Fisher said the Knicks needed to disregard their early success this season and “make sure we’re approaching this as though we’re not that good yet.”