Sunday was the final duel between 18x All-Star & 5x NBA Championn Kobe Bryant and 9x All-Star & 0 x NBA Champion Carmelo Anthony. Melo obviously wanted to  have a big game against Kobe and after scoring 12 of his 26 points in the final quarter, with the score tied up at 87 a piece with 9 seconds on the clock, he had a chance to be a hero and hit the game-winner over one of his heroes. It didn't happen because the Knicks couldn't get the ball into Melo's outreached hands and Jose Calderon ended up taking and making the game-winning 3.

Spike Lee celebrated, the Knicks bench celebrated, Calderon looked like a man who was about to be punished by Melo and Melo looked disappointed because it wasn't him that made the shot.

"It was kind of a weird situation," Calderon said of the game-winner. "The play was supposed to go to Melo, but he couldn't get free. I grabbed the ball and there weren't too many options out there, so I kind of got open for a minute and that was it. Sometimes when you're struggling a little bit, you make that important one."

After the game, Anthony admitted he wanted that last shot.

"I wanted this one," Anthony said. "Going back and forth just made it that much better. I'm pretty sure we gave the fans what they paid to see out there tonight. The way this game played itself out, we didn't want it to come down to the wire, but it was one of those games that was for the ages."

CARMELO vs KOBE

"It was a very emotional situation, from the standpoint of competing against one of the greats, a friend and brother, for the last time," Said Anthony, who finished with 26 points and 12 rebounds. "This isn't just a basketball relationship. I mean, basketball brought us together, but this goes way beyond the court and we've taken it to another level."

"He's an assassin, man. You can't take no plays off, going against him," Anthony said. "Even now, you're seeing flashes of him out there. He still has that look in his eyes when he gets the ball, and you have to play close attention to him. So we're definitely going to miss that."

The assassin finished with 14 points on 5 of 15 shooting.

"We had so many battles throughout the years," Bryant said. "It's always strange, thinking it's the last time, but it's been fun."