Ian Begley, ESPN Staff Writer 9y

Derek Fisher: Carmelo Anthony, starting five 'a disappointment to their teammates'

NEW YORK -- Here's how bad things are getting for the New York Knicks: Carmelo Anthony is starting to question whether his team has the confidence to compete on an NBA floor.

"We gotta want to win. We gotta believe that we can win basketball games," Anthony said when asked about what has to change for his 5-22 team. "It seems that when we don't get off to a good start and we climb uphill, battle, or if the game is close, we don't have that confidence that we can win the basketball game. We're worrying about not losing the game so much that we kind of lose focus on believing and having the faith that we can win the basketball game."

The Knicks probably lost faith early on Tuesday night. The Mavericks hit 10 of their first 11 shots and were up by 12 halfway through the first quarter en route to a 107-87 win in Tyson Chandler's return to Madison Square Garden.

Derek Fisher pulled his starters with 5:20 to play in the first quarter and the Knicks down 15. In a rare public display of criticism, Fisher ripped his starters after the game for a lack of effort.

"I thought the start was not the right way to start a professional basketball game," said Fisher, who has been mostly careful not to criticize his players in public. "Those guys that were in there to start the game, that was a disappointment to their teammates more than anything. Guys that start the game have to mentally and physically be ready to play, and they couldn't put that out there."

Finding the right starting lineup has been a challenge all season long for Fisher.

Partly due to injuries, and partly because he's struggled to find the right combinations, Fisher has played 13 starting lineups in 27 games.

The fluctuating starting lineup is only one reason why the Knicks find themselves at 17 games under .500 at this point.

They have dropped 12 of 13 and are off to the worst start in franchise history through 27 games.

New York will wake up on Wednesday with as many losses as the Philadelphia 76ers. Not even Phil Jackson's wildest detractor could have dreamed up this start.

Carmelo has said that he didn't have any expectations coming into this season. But he certainly didn't expect this.

"It don't sit well," Anthony said of the Knicks' awful start. "If I sat here and said everything sits well with me then you should question me. But it don't sit well with me. Losing the way we're losing doesn't sit well. I don't like this feeling. What are we going to do about it right now? We got a lot more games to play."

At this point in the season, it just feels like the Knicks have a lot more games to lose.

Question: What do you think Derek Fisher can do to turn the season around for the Knicks?

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