Melo: Jax won’t be coaching us

INDIANAPOLIS – It’s understandable if Carmelo Anthony is unclear about things surrounding the Knicks, most notably the direction of a franchise that is swimming up a smelly creek without a draft pick.

But there’s at least one thing Anthony knows about the coaching situation: Phil Jackson, the most accomplished coach in NBA history – who happens to be on the payroll — is not going to fill that void.

Anthony never bothered to ask the 70-year-old.

“He’s not coming down. He’s not sitting on that sideline,” Anthony said Wednesday. “Those days are long gone.”

Jackson, who is dealing with some physical issues, confirmed as much during his one session with reporters this season after firing Derek Fisher. The team president then stood pat at the trade deadline and, according to Anthony, never addressed the team.

Anthony acknowledged his relationship with Jackson is more informal because of

the separation between front office and basketball court.

“I don’t think that’s to the point where he was coaching and he had that playercoach relationship. He’s more in the front office doing front office work now,” Anthony said. “So I don’t think it’s kind of the same relationship.”

Left to their own devices, the Knicks (24-35) have dropped 13 of their last 15 games after Wednesday’s loss to the Pacers, falling to 13th in the Eastern Conference. The last defeat – a 122-95 embarrassment against the Raptors – prompted a frustrated Anthony to criticize the team’s effort and bolt the Garden faster than usual.

“It was just a bad night. Sometimes it hits you sometimes, you don’t know how to react to it,” he said. “So the best thing to do is just get yourself away from it. Step back and relax.

“Sometimes I got to have some me time.”

Still, Anthony said his words were meant to uplift.

“What I was saying is that we have to want this. We have to want to make the playoffs. We have to want to win basketball games,” he said. “We can’t come in second-guessing ourselves as a team. So it wasn’t me singling out one individual out. It’s as a team, we have to want to make this push together.”

Despite giving some thought to alterations, interim coach Kurt Rambis stuck with the same starting lineup against Indiana. Anthony thought the Knicks were going to come out refreshed and motivated following the trade deadline, but they are 1-3 after Wednesday’s defeat to the Pacers, with bad losses to the Nets and Raptors.

“You would think it’s the opposite of that. Guys through a season thinking about trades, they hear their name i n trades, nothing happens and it’s kind of like a relief,” Anthony said. “So you would think guys would feel more comfortable that they would be here at least for the rest of this season and we would go out there with a different kind of energy, a different sense of urgency. That’s just not the case right now.”