As the Miami Heat kept winning games -- 27 in a row before their loss to the Bulls on Wednesday night -- Carmelo Anthony wanted their streak to continue. But that was as a fan.
Playing for the Eastern Conference foe Knicks, that definitely wasn't the case. Melo wanted to make some history by being on the team that snapped the Heat's streak.
"Who wouldn't want to end it? Absolutely," he said on Thursday while appearing on ESPN New York 98.7 FM's "The Michael Kay Show." "I mean, it was kind of twofold because as a fan, just taking away my competitive spirit, my competitive nature, you want to just see them keep it going.
"But as a competitor, I wanted for them to keep it going so I could be the one that ended their streak. But what they were able to do? I mean, come on now. 27 straight games? That's a hell of an accomplishment. We probably won't see that for a long, long time."
Now the Heat have a streak to snap. That would be the Knicks, who have the longest one in the NBA right now at six games. The longtime rivals meet Tuesday in Miami, their final matchup of the regular season. The Knicks lead the series 2-1, with Miami winning the last game on March 3.
Anthony commented on the two hard fouls LeBron James received last night in Chicago, saying that the league will be on top of the issue.
Debby Wong/USA TODAY Sports
Carmelo Anthony helped the Knicks continue their winning streak on Wednesday against the Grizzlies.
"I doubt if you see that anymore, just the way that the game is," he said. "They clean the game up so much."
Here are some other interesting nuggets from Melo:
On the team's recent success: "It's just a matter of guys getting healthy. That tends to be the thing over here with us, man, guys being injured. We know what type of team we are, we know the type of players that we have on the team. It's just a matter of getting over that little hurdle that we had during our four-game skid. Right now, we're having fun again playing basketball, guys are getting their confidence back, guys are starting to get healthier."
On Kenyon Martin: "I know a lot of people had doubts. ... I was able to play with Kenyon for about seven-and-a-half years out there in Denver. I know what he brings to the game when he's out there and he's focused. I think sometimes in life when you sit back and then you have an opportunity to get a second chance, that brings a greater person out in somebody, and I think that's what we're seeing right now with Kenyon."
On getting his right knee drained: "It's not even about the needle; it's just about the whole process and thought of having surgery. I hate that feeling, I hate that thought, I hate that going through my mind. I'm not a big fan of going through surgery and things like that if I don't have to. I think that's what caused my knee to get to the place that it was at because I was kind of being naive."
