GREENBURGH, N.Y. -- For his first 19 games as a member of the New York Knicks, Carmelo Anthony preached patience when he talked about the team's struggles.
Apparently, the time for patience is now over. Anthony said Monday's game against Orlando is a must-win.
"For our own confidence, our own satisfaction, it's a must-win for us," Anthony said after the team's shootaround Monday morning. "I think if we approach the game like that tonight, good things will happen."
The Knicks have lost six straight and are three games below .500. They are just 7-12 since trading for Anthony on Feb. 21 and enter play Monday in seventh place in the Eastern Conference, three games ahead of Indiana for the conference's eighth and final playoff spot.
The Knicks took Sunday off after a 114-106 road loss to Charlotte on Saturday night. Coach Mike D'Antoni held a morning shootaround on the day of a home game for the first time this season.
He said after the shootaround that the team has struggled to play with intensity for a full 48 minutes, adding that it was time to "draw a line in the sand and play as hard as we can play." The coach also was concerned that losing would take a toll on the Knicks' mental approach.
"We're not a real confident team right now because we're losing all the time," he said.
The Knicks have lost all three games to Orlando this season, the last coming at the Garden on March 23 when they were outscored by 11 in the fourth quarter of a 111-99 loss. Fourth-quarter struggles have been a common theme throughout the Knicks' recent skid. They've also struggled against the teams behind them in the standings, losing eight games to teams with losing records since acquiring Anthony.
Anthony expressed confidence that the Knicks would improve their play late in games.
"Me and Amare [Stoudemire] are two guys who can close out games, Chauncey [Billups] is a guy who can close out games," he said. "We've been in situations where we close out games before so ... we've just got to figure out what's really going on out there in the fourth quarter and just get it done."
Knicks general manager Donnie Walsh expressed concern that the team's side -- New York has lost lost nine of 10 -- is affecting his coach.
"It's not easy to lose anywhere in the franchise but the coach is on the front line and it can get old," Walsh said. "You're going to go home at night, not sleep. The only thing I've said to Mike, 'Don't get overwrought with this thing,' because most coaches do. They go home and they're thinking about it, they don't sleep. Some of them come in early in the morning and go over film and that kind of stuff. I hope he's not doing that because I'm sure he's doing every single thing he can do."
