Carmelo Anthony almost walked away from the questions, which is unlike his usual demeanor.
Suggestions from Knicks’ president Phil Jackson Thursday night that Melo tends to hold onto the ball too long didn’t go over well.
“I don’t want to answer those questions,” Anthony said after the Knicks took a 126-94 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers. He was clearly piqued.
After deciding not to disengage, Anthony responded when asked if Jackson’s comments were productive.
“I don’t even know what was said, to be honest with you,” Anthony said. “I just don’t even want to talk about that, what he’s talking about exactly. I want to stay away from that at this point.
“My focus is my teammates and winning. We’ve been playing great basketball, and that’s the only thing I’m focused on. Whatever Phil said, he said it. I have nothing to say about that.”
Jackson spoke out during an interview with CBS Sport Network Tuesday, suggesting that Anthony could play the “role that Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant played” in their teams’ triangle offenses, but he believes Anthony sometimes breaks a team rule by holding onto the ball too long.
“Carmelo a lot of times wants to hold the ball longer than … we have a rule: If you hold a pass two seconds, you benefit the defense,” Jackson said. “So he has a little bit of a tendency to hold it for three, four, five seconds, and then everybody comes to a stop. That is one of the things we work with. But he’s adjusted to [the triangle], he knows what he can do, and he’s willing to see its success.”
Perhaps not surprisingly the man in the middle, coach Jeff Hornacek, came down on middle ground.
“Yeah, I think there’s probably times that happens,” he said. “There’s other times when he … just carries us. It’s a fine balance. He’s a star player who can really create his own shot.”