After 16 consecutive losses, the New York Knicks get to taste victory in a 99-92 win over the New Orleans Pelicans (playing without Anthony Davis) while Carmelo Anthony played in an almost possessed way, tired of losing and not letting this one slip away.

The Knicks are now at 6-36. The triangle offense doesn’t look good and probably won’t this season. This whole year is a disaster, which began with underachieving and continues with completely collapsing before the tanking begins. But after such a long time of waiting to see what a victory feels like, the Knicks finally had themselves the conditions to put a smile on their own faces, not to mention giving the fans something to cheer about after such a long time.

Anthony scored 24 points to lead his team, also grabbing 9 rebounds and adding 3 assists. He got plenty of help from Langston Galloway, scoring 21 points and doing rather well since getting the opportunity to play (12 points a night in five games so far). Amare Stoudemire was quite productive off the bench with 14 points in 21 minutes, Tim Hardaway Jr. didn’t try too hard to get his 11 points while Jason Smith finished with 12.

For the Pelicans, playing without Davis gave Ryan Anderson an opportunity to shoot a bit more than usual, but that didn’t turn out so well. He scored only 11 points on 4-of-17 from the field, missing plenty of open shots but often trying to force some which should have been passed over. Tyreke Evans scored 23 points and Eric Gordon added 20, starting together in the backcourt while Jrue Holiday missed the game as well.

The Knicks don’t care that they played a weakened Pelicans team. At this point, in a season which is testing the patience of Carmelo Anthony and his belief in the process, something he has mentioned a few times to show that it’s about the future and being mature about the terrible situation the team seems to be in now, any win is a bonus, almost like a huge reason to celebrate, as it seems the Knicks are headed towards their worst record in franchise history.

Just relax and enjoy the ride? It’s difficult to actually enjoy this season when there is so much losing involved, but there are little things, especially for players not named Carmelo Anthony, up for grabs. Some players are trying to impress in the remaining 40 games and show they deserve to be in this league. Others are trying to make sure there’s more than a minimum contract offered to them in the offseason. Anthony is on a different scale and level compared to the rest of the Knicks players, most of them will be playing somewhere else next season. For him, this season is longer, more painful and frustrating. But the salary he earns makes it a bit easier to swallow.

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