Melo takes high road in latest feud with Jackson
Is Carmelo Anthony trying to give Phil Jackson a taste of his own medicine? The Knicks star, whose ice-cold performance against the Cavaliers on Wednesday night (he finished with eight points) suspiciously coincided with Jackson’s critique of Anthony’s ball-stopping habits, posted two messages Thursday on Instagram that appear directed at the Zen Master. It’s more fodder in an increasingly tense dynamic. “EGO is the only requirement to destroy any relationship,” Anthony wrote in the first post, attached to a black-and-white self-portrait, borrowing Jackson’s familiar mode of psychology-speak. “So, be a BIGGER person, skip the ‘E’ and let it ‘GO.’ ” Anthony’s moment of social media sharing — or thinly coded messaging — continued with a dramatic Muhammad Ali reference. “UN-Phased ,” he wrote as a caption alongside a famous photo of Ali looking calm in the face of flying arrows. Anthony, who had the Knicks three games over . 500 for the first time in Jackson’s tenure as team president before Wednesday night’s 126-94 dismantling by LeBron James and the Cavaliers, chose to open up a day after showing an angry reluctance to address the Jackson situation in his postgame interview.
“I don’t even know what was said,” Anthony said, when asked if it were foolish of Jackson to criticize him during the team’s winning streak. “I don’t even want to talk about that. I want to stay away from that at this point. My focus is on my teammates and winning. Whatever Phil said, he said.”
Jackson continues to get himself in trouble with his best player. The most recent round of bitterness in their complicated relationship began last month when Jackson angered James, one of Anthony’s best friends, by describing him as a diva and referring to his inner circle with the racially loaded term “posse.”
Anthony sided with James, saying it doesn’t take a “rocket scientist’’ to realize “posse’’ was a racially tinged comment in that context. Anthony also has not won any brownie points with Jackson when on multiple occasions, he makes a point to say he won’t use the word “triangle.”
In a television interview this week, Jackson directly critiqued Anthony, the player most responsible for the Knicks’ promising start to the season.
“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 on CBS Sports Network Tuesday. “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.”
Jackson is headed to Los Angeles this weekend to join the club during their West Coast trip, where he and Anthony can smooth things out over dinner. Jackson appeared at a book reading at Brooklyn Public Library Thursday but declined to comment to The Post regarding Anthony’s remarks.