MILWAUKEE — Carmelo Anthony tried to put an end Sunday to the latest MeloDrama surrounding the New York Knicks, saying his frustration boiled over Friday night in a loss at Detroit.
Anthony, who at one point refused to join the huddle during a timeout, said he did not take Amare Stoudemire‘s pointed postgame comments personally, and he said there was laughter in a team meeting Saturday as the Knicks broke down film of the 99-95 loss, which dropped them behind Philadelphia into seventh place in the Eastern Conference.
“No not at all, why would I do that?” Anthony said of taking offense at the team captain’s comments. “[Coach] D’Antoni got a hell of an offense, I can tell you that. Everybody knows that around this league, everybody on the team knows that.
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“It’s a matter of me picking my spots in the offense and figuring them out in a timely fashion. What I told the guys is ‘Let’s be patient, man. This is not going to get together, this is not going to be 100 percent in two-and-a-half weeks. It’ll just take some time.'”
Anthony missed all five of his shots in the fourth quarter and then bolted for the team bus without speaking to reporters after the Knicks lost to the Pistons, dropping New York to 7-7 since acquiring him.
Afterward, Stoudemire had said there were some players on the team who still needed to buy into coach Mike D’Antoni’s system, and it seemed clear he was speaking of Anthony.
But D’Antoni said the air was cleared at the team’s film session Saturday as the Knicks prepared for Sunday afternoon’s game against the Milwaukee Bucks, which New York lost 100-95.
“I think everybody wants an ideal situation where it’s all campfires and singing and all that, but it’s just not going to be that way,” D’Antoni said. “We have a lot of high stakes right now, and as you see there’s people that want to getcha. Again, it’s nothing bad, that’s just the way it is.
“We’re on a big stage and we’re going through practice on an open court and sometimes it doesn’t get good. I guess the bottom line is I’m not worried about it. We’ve talked about it and we’ll get things right, and guys are still hanging in there and we’ll solve the problem. There are going to be frustrations that boil over some, but they know and we all know, and we’re all in the same boat, how to get the job done.”
Chris Sheridan covers the NBA for ESPN.com and ESPNNewYork.com.
Follow Chris Sheridan on Twitter: @csheridanespn
