No surprise that the marquee matchup in New York's 91-86 win in Miami pitted Carmelo Anthony versus LeBron James. Turned out that Melo won both the battle and the war.
Simply put, Anthony shredded LeBron's paltry attempts to guard him. On several drives hoopwards -- whether resorting to straight power-moves or tricky spins -- Melo left James in the dust. Indeed, at the time Melo was putting the finishing touches on any given layup, James was beaten so badly that he wasn't even posterized.
As ever, LeBron's defensive stance was too upright, and the slightest ball-fake drew him completely off-balance. On one embarrassing sequence, LBJ was so mesmerized by the ball that he was unable to react when Anthony executed a nifty back-door cut, caught a lob pass from Amar'e Stoudemire, and scored on an uncontested dunk.
For sure Carmelo Anthony is the most versatile point-maker in the NBA -- beating James from the low-post to wing isos and pull-ups -- but the game at hand should finally put the lie to all the hype concerning LBJ's being a top-notch defender.
Anthony's numbers: 10-of-22 shooting, two assists, three turnovers, nine rebounds, and 29 points. As is his wont, Melo was most comfortable when put in isolation situations -- his 12 iso opportunities led to scoring eight points. In grill-to-grill competition, Anthony scorched LeBron for a total of 20 points.
At the other end of the game, Anthony's quick-footed, aggressive defense against LBJ was a revelation. In fact, Melo hasn't played such ornery defense for such long stretches since he locked horns with Kobe Bryant in the fourth game of the 2009 Western Conference finals.
Source: http://nba.fanhouse.com/2011/02/28/charley-rosen-carmelo-burns-lebron-as-knicks-win-in-miami/
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