Carmelo Anthony scored 42 points, including a record nine 3-pointers, in the New York Knicks' 106-104 victory over the Atlanta Hawks.
"It was just a matter of me just taking them shots and making them," the Associated Press quoted Anthony as saying. "I know I'm capable of making them, but when I'm making them from the outside, from the perimeter, it opens up the game that much more, for myself, for my teammates, and that's what happened tonight."
Anthony made 15 out of 28 attempts, which included nine 3-pointers from 12 shots, to complete his fourth 40 or more score in the current season.
"It's difficult, because he can make the 3-pointer and he's also fast," Hawks' Al Horford said. "He has a first step, like we say in the league, it's a quick first step and explosive. He's a good player."
For the Knicks, J.R. Smith and Amare Stoudemire scored 18 points apiece, while Raymond Felton added 12 points and chipped in 10 assists.
For the Hawks, Jeff Teague top scored with 27 points, six assists and five rebounds. Josh Smith had 20 points, Horford scored 16 and DeShawn Stevenson finished with 15 points.
John Starks, Latrell Sprewell (twice) and Toney Douglas are the other New York players to make nine three-pointers in an NBA game. Anthony matched them against the Hawks. His second personal achievement was to score 20 or more in his 29th consecutive game to tie Richie Guerin's franchise record.
"He (Anthony) took what the defense gave him," Felton said. "Josh Smith kind of lifted his leg a little bit and then he attacked the back leg, got to the basket and got the and-one. He's been doing a great job of finishing games for us and closing out and hitting big shots."
Anthony jumped by Smith to the left and got fouled while scoring. After that he took the score to 106-104 with a free throw. Soon while trying to control the ball, Anthony saw the deflected ball going to Smith, who could not take advantage of it.
"It was a good look. It just didn't go down," Smith said. "It was really a back-and-forth game.
"For us to be able to have a chance at making a game-winning shot or a tying field goal towards the end of that game (with) how well they shot the 3, lets us know that we had a pretty good basketball game ourselves. We just fell a little short."
New York outscored Atlanta 27-25 in the first quarter to take a two-point lead.
In the second quarter, the Hawks scored 27 points and stopped the Knicks at 25 to tie the scores at the halftime.
New York dominated the third quarter as they outshined the Hawks 30-22 to enter the fourth quarter with an eight-point lead.
Atlanta scored 30 points in the fourth quarter and allowed the Knicks only 24, but still lost the game by two points because of Anthony's 3-point play with just 12.5 seconds remaining in the game.
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