Winning the Atlantic Division and advancing to the second round of the playoffs, the New York Knicks are once again relevant for basketball reasons. Much of that is because of the performance of Carmelo Anthony. He’s played great for the Knicks, enjoying his best season since joining the Knicks in 2011. But as good as Anthony has been, he needs to be better in a hurry.

There is no doubt that Anthony can score the ball. On any given night he’s capable of scoring 40 points, but what else can he do? What else is he willing to do?

Through the Knicks’ first seven playoff games, the 28-year-old has taken 188 shots while only recording 12 assists. He’s shooting 38 percent from the field and has almost twice the number of turnovers (22) as assists. A player with those types of statistics is most frequently called a gunner or volume shooter. Never would that player be considered great or the right guy to lead a team to a championship.

Anthony, however, has managed to avoid heavy criticism for his style of play. It’s hard to argue with the results of the regular season and there’s no doubt he’s the team’s catalyst. The time, however, has come for Anthony to make plays that don’t require him taking so many shots. That approach was good enough to get the Knicks past the older Celtics; it won’t work against the Indiana Pacers. Anthony is going to need to create scoring opportunities for his teammates.

Many times scoring is viewed as the only way for a star player to help their team. Making the play somehow becomes scoring the basket. With that type of mentality, a player is going to shoot as many shots as they need to get points. But that doesn’t help a team win, one guy taking the majority of the shots never does. Anthony isn’t LeBron James, but he could become a more effective player by adapting elements from the game of the league’s MVP.

James makes plays and controls the game without shooting his team out of it; I believe Anthony is capable of doing the same thing. Great scorers can quickly identify and attack a scoring opportunity. Great players understand that taking the shot isn’t always the best play. Anthony can see scoring opportunities two plays ahead, what he now needs to do is show a willingness to make the pass. Ideally, Anthony would shave two or three shots per game off his average in exchange for two or three assists. Otherwise, Anthony turns himself into just another player.

I’ve always had the opinion that any player in the league can get hot and have a good night. Most players would score a lot of points if they had the freedom to hoist a bunch of shots. The special players separate themselves from the average league guy by impacting the game in a multitude of ways, not just scoring or shooting a lot of shots. If they get hot they score 50 or 60. If they take over 25 shots, well, they score 50 or 60. There’s nothing great about Anthony taking 28 shots from the floor to get 27 points (including six points from the free-throw line). Anthony cannot truly become a great player until he consistently makes great plays that go beyond simply scoring. The championship chances of the Knicks depend on Anthony’s willingness to do more than shoot the ball.

There is a big difference between being a great scorer and a great player. The playoffs give Anthony an opportunity to show everyone which category he fits into.