Most NBA devotees remember watching Carmelo Anthony dominate for the majority of his 19-year career. The Hall of Famer was a fan favorite who used to live for clutch moments and would hit big shots like they were nothing. One of his fans was none other than the New York Knicks’ current big man, Karl-Anthony Towns. He recently opened up about his fandom and why it made playing for the team so special in his first season.
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Whether you remember Carmelo with the Knicks or the Denver Nuggets, he had great seasons for both franchises. He never won an MVP, but he regularly received votes and was a 10-time All-Star participant. Even though a championship always eluded him, fans still loved the passion with which Melo would play and his knack for the big moments.
Towns recently described what it was like to be a fan of Carmelo and watching him play growing up. Furthermore, he shared why that made him so excited to carve out his own space in Knicks history. He even got to do it with Melo while on his podcast.
“I mean, when I was growing up, I was watching you play. So, it was like seeing you in the garden. Seeing the magical moments you made and everything, and kind of being able to make my own history there,” Towns said on 7PM in Brooklyn with Carmelo Anthony.
It must have been a dream come true for the former Minnesota Timberwolf to come play in a big market like New York. What a way to ingratiate himself with his new fans, too. Towns hit the ground running with his new team. Averaging 24 points and almost 13 rebounds per game while shooting over 50% from the field. The rebounds were a career high.
Towns kept up his stellar play in the playoffs. He and Jalen Brunson took the Knicks to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time in 25 years. It’s something that not even Carmelo was able to do with the team.
“It’s special, you know. You never know that in 5 months you would get to the Conference Finals. Something that hasn’t been done in 25 years,” Towns shared.
What really got the big man amped, though, was seeing the fan reaction in New York when they overcame one of their biggest rivals. “They was lit, I ain’t gonna lie. To see them after that Boston Celtics series, that was special,” he added.
Many called the Knicks lucky after defeating the Celtics. Mostly because of the Achilles injury to Jayson Tatum that held him out of the final 2 games of the series. But New York was already on the verge of going up 3-1 in the game when he went down. So, it’s hard to say that Boston would’ve come back in the series.
Give the Knicks credit. They did their job and handled business, taking down the Celtics in 6 games. When they finally won, Towns said it was a moment he’ll remember forever. “It was something that, you know, you watch it on TV. Watching you play, and to be a part of that history is something that I could’ve never thought,” he continued.
We all watch our favorite players on TV as kids and imagine being in their shoes one day. But Towns got to live out the fantasy. It sounds like a dream come true; yet, he’s probably itching to improve next season and make it to the NBA Finals.
It kind of got swept under the rug because of the Indiana Pacers’ enthralling run, but the Knicks sort of choked in the Conference Finals this past year. They were the higher seed, with home court advantage, and still fumbled away two games at home to immediately go down in the series 0-2.
Experts even believed that last year was the Knicks’ best chance to win the Eastern Conference, especially considering how much momentum they had coming into the series against the Pacers.
All in all, it’s great that Towns is living out his dream of being like Carmelo. But he’s about to turn 30, and there aren’t going to be that many more great opportunities to win titles in the East. The Cleveland Cavaliers are going to be hungry to redeem themselves. The Orlando Magic got better as well. And while the Celtics might be reloading as of now, they won’t be mediocre for long.
