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Knicks hit road with Cavalier loss behind them

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Carmelo Anthony does not want to see the positive vibes surrounding the New York Knicks disappear because of one bad night against the defending champions.

The memories about too many bad nights in the past turning into several consecutive ones remain too fresh for the 14-year veteran, now in his sixth full season with the Knicks.

"We've got to put this behind us," he told reporters in video shown on Knicks.com after New York braced for a five-game road trip with a 126-94 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday. "We just want to chalk it up as a bad night, put it behind us, and get ready for this road trip."

The road trip comes just as the Knicks are winning for the first time in years. New York opens its longest sojourn of the season when they face the Sacramento Kings on Friday night at the Golden 1 Center. The trip is entirely against Western Conference teams, against whom New York has won six of nine, one of them a 106-98 home victory against Sacramento on Sunday.

In that one, Anthony and guard Derrick Rose scored 20 points and Brandon Jennings 19 for the Knicks, part of a 9-4 stretch that has propelled them to their best 22-game start (12-10) since the 2012-13 campaign. In this one, they'll try to put away the stench of a game they never were in after a 20-4 Cleveland run put the Knicks behind 34-17 in the first quarter

"We'll learn from this," Anthony said. "We don't want to let this linger around when we have the opportunity to go on the road and do something good."

New York faces only one team with a winning mark on the trip. The Golden State Warriors (19-3) are two-time defending Western Conference champions, but the other four opponents entered Thursday with a combined mark of 32-57. New York has played only one other road game against the Western Conference, a 106-104 victory at Minnesota on Nov. 30.

Rose didn't play against the Cavaliers because of back spasms, but the New York Daily News reported that an MRI exam did not reveal any serious injury. Rose played in New York's first 21 games, averaging 16.7 points and 4.8 assists in 32 minutes per contest.

The Kings (8-13) could use a boost, period, after a very uneven first quarter of the season. Back-to-back victories could provide it, and the Kings are coming off a 120-89 blowout of the Dallas Mavericks that finished off a 2-3 road trip that included a cancellation of a scheduled game in Philadelphia.

Sacramento has strung together consecutive victories only twice this season.

"We're competitive," first-year Kings coach Dave Joerger told the Sacramento Bee. "The spirit's good, the chemistry is good, different guys have been in and we've had a chance to look at different guys in the rotation, and we'll continued to do that going forward."

Center DeMarcus Cousins averaged 32.2 points and 13.2 rebounds during the trip, He is averaging 28.8 and 10.6 for the season, ranking third and 10th in the NBA through Wednesday's games.

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