New York Daily News

ON THE BRIGHT SIDE

-

hopefully some day he comes back.”

After Friday night’s blowout loss the Nuggets, Anthony said the constant drama and Oakley debacle created “this cloud hanging over” the Knicks organizati­on.

Before Oakley’s fracas with security and eventual arrest, team president Phil Jackson made headlines with a cryptic shot at Anthony on Twitter, adding fuel to trade speculatio­n. Anthony said Friday the Knicks were forced to deal with “incident on top of incident.”

When asked Tuesday what could eliminate that cloud, Anthony said, “Winning.”

He specifical­ly referenced the feeling after the Knicks’ improbable 94-90 victory over the Spurs Sunday afternoon.

“We won the other night, which is only one game. But you can just feel the tension leave for a couple hours after that win,”Anthony said. “And I think that’s a feeling that we all want to get back to feeling: winning basketball. Regardless in sports, winning is the cure. I think we have to realize that.”

Anthony said it’s difficult for the players to distance themselves from the controvers­ies, especially with the Knicks failing to meet expectatio­ns on the court. At 23-33, they’re three games out of the eighth seed in the East. They play at the Thunder tonight in their final game before the All-Star break.

“It’s something that’s going on off the court; it’s something that’s going on kind of on the court —I think it’s all meshed together. It becomes all one,”Anthony said. “It’s hard for people to look at it differentl­y when you’re dealing with something that’s under the same roof. As much as the Oakley situation didn’t affect us as players, still, we’re a part of that. We’re under the umbrella. It’s our home court. It’s in Madison Square Garden. And we’re a part of that. So we can’t escape that. We can’t run from that.”

Between trade rumors and the Oakley fiasco, there hasn’t been much talk about actual basketball at the Garden lately.

At this point, Melo expects those narratives. But that doesn't make managing them any easier.

“It’s been a lot,” Anthony said. “It takes special people to deal with that. It’s only here in New York. You can make it here, you can make it anywhere. And I believe that.”

 ??  ??

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United States