Basketball'Melo taking his talents to Broadway?

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Denver Nuggets forward Carmelo Anthony, left, may be close to joining Amare Stoudemire, right, and the rest of the New York Knicks. (Jack Dempsey/Associated Press)

Few things are more predictable than New York fan and media reaction when a star athlete arrives in town, especially when rumours abound that the player will be taking his talents to Broadway.

Unlike the many stories linking LeBron to New York in the past few seasons, the odds of Carmelo Anthony landing with the Knicks are somewhat more plausible.

There was a story this weekend that sources close to Melo say he won't sign a long term deal with anyone but New York.

Naturally, upon arrival in Gotham, Anthony said he was bombarded by Knick fans yelling "we need you" out car windows.

While the Nets appeared at one point to be involved in the Melo sweepstakes as well, there is really only one NBA destination of choice in the New York area, and rappers and Russian billionaires really won't change that -- at least until the much-maligned Barclays Center opens in Brooklyn.

Anthony has leverage here. Denver is not going to let him get away for nothing -- the way the Raptors did with Chris Bosh or the Cavs did with James. While Melo doesn't have an early termination option in his contract until after next season, the threat of an NBA lockout in July means rookie Nuggets GM and former Raptor front office employee Masai Ujiri may be inclined to act sooner rather than later.

Whether Melo would be a great fit with Amar'e Stoudemire is immaterial. It's the Mecca of basketball, and the Knicks' play this year is whetting the appetite of the fans and media who want more star power.

The Knicks have been an entertaining team to watch this year. After a 3-8 start, they've gone 13-1 since, with eight straight wins going into a huge game against the Celtics Wednesday.

The Garden is supposedly as loud as it was when John Starks was playing, Madonna was courtside and it was still acceptable to walk down 9th Avenue drinking from a can of Bud in a paper bag. These aren't your older brother's Knickerbockers. No Mike D'Antoni-coached squad could ever be confused for those teams, but New York loves winners, offensive or defensive (although they know defence wins championships).

Knicks fans knew what they were getting with D'Antoni, and despite being last in the Eastern Conference in points allowed, the Knicks have been smoking hot thanks to Stoudemire (eight straight 30-point games, 33.2 per in December), and Raymond Felton, who in his first year at MSG has blown up, averaging almost 19 a game and dropping dimes like a dude with holes in his pockets (17 assists against Denver Sunday). Second-round pick Landry Fields has also produced as a rookie, shooting at a 52% clip.

But defence remains the Knicks' Achilles heel, and tough stretch awaits with Boston, Miami (twice) Oklahoma City, Chicago and Orlando all before New Year's. A safe guess before the season pegged them as the seventh or eighth playoff seed out of the East, and give or take a spot or two, that's probably what they'll be.

Anthony sat out Denver's 123-116 win in Toronto on Friday, win number 1,000 for George Karl as an NBA head coach. I've always been a Karl fan, and it's impossible not to pull for him after he missed the second half of last season after undergoing treatment for cancer in his neck.

"I don't like the spotlight on me," Karl said before the game, shrugging off the attention garnered from doing something only six other coaches have accomplished. "I think there's a justification for [it], but it's just way too long." Coincidentally, Karl's 900th win also came against the Raptors at the Air Canada Centre on New Year's Eve, 2008.

Raptors galvanize

On Saturday night in Detroit, the Raptors pulled off their biggest comeback (25 points down in the third quarter) in franchise history against the Pistons, winning 120-116. The game was a gong show on both sides, played before what appeared to be about 90 at the Palace of Auburn Hills. The Pistons collapsed in their own second-half flurry of ineptitude, but you've got to credit the fact that this young Raps team woke up at all given their first half performance.

Despite some pathetic physical machinations that were supposed to pass for defence -- and 18 putrid turnovers, they managed to galvanize, get some stops and ride Andrea Bargnani, Leandro Barbosa and Jerryd Bayless in the second half. I know it's cliché to talk about games like that having a positive long-term effect on a team, but I don't think Raptor players will forget that game any time soon.

'MJ's' response

Finally, this video has been circulating for three weeks now, but I've only watched it 56 times. It's clearly a YouTube mashup, but for some reason Michael Jordan still felt the need to point out he had nothing to do with it.

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