GREENBURGH, N.Y. _ Carmelo Anthony doesn't want to make a big deal over one game, but he twice said the Knicks will have more of a sense of urgency in their home opener Saturday night.
It sounds like Tuesday's 29-point opening-night loss to the Cavaliers woke up the Knicks.
"It gives us a sense of urgency to want to get back on the court, just to show that game didn't have any effect on us as a team," Anthony said following Friday's practice. "We'll be a totally different team."
The Knicks have nowhere to go but up after Tuesday. They showed little resistance on defense and even less continuity on offense against the NBA champs.
Coach Jeff Hornacek tried to clean things up over the last two days of practice and seemed to challenge his players to commit more to defense when they take the Madison Square Garden court against the Memphis Grizzlies. He said there was too much "bail-out switching" on picks and not enough fight or extra work against the Cavaliers.
"It takes effort and determination, it takes some pride to get out there and say, 'I'm going to stop that guy,'" Hornacek said. "We have to make sure we're more aggressive.
"Defense has to be all five guys doing the right thing. Right now we're just playing, and not really taking that next level of 'Who's that player? What's his strength? What's his weakness? What can he do? It will come. It's new in the season. Guys have to get used to that rhythm."
Derrick Rose was brutally honest after the Cavaliers' loss, saying that the Knicks lacked toughness on defense and he still wasn't comfortable in the offense.
Rose said the last two days of practice have made him more comfortable and he understands he has to read and react. But he's still upset about the Cleveland loss.
"Oh yeah," Rose said. "Not just because it was on national TV, we just lost the way we did. We're trying to figure things out. We're still trying to find chemistry. We're still trying to get set into the offense and figure out what we're going to do with it."
This will be Anthony's sixth home opener as a Knick. He said there's "nothing like" opening at the Garden and has extra motivation for this one.
"It's our time to go out there and put that Game 1 behind us and move on and show the fans who we really are," Anthony said. "It's a great opportunity to create something on our home floor. We want to make it hard for teams to come here."
Rose and Joakim Noah will play in their first home openers as Knicks. For Rose, it will be his Garden debut since being acquired from Chicago. He missed the three preseason games because of his civil sex assault case in Los Angeles.
Rose called it just another game, but Anthony said the players have to try and calm down Noah, who is from Hell's Kitchen.
"That's who we got to control," Anthony said. "We got to control his emotions. We got to make sure he meditates or something like that. He's got to be calm. He's very excited at this moment. It just goes to show you how much passion people have towards New York.
"He's like a dog ready to get loose out there tomorrow night. I think the fans will enjoy that."
