Carmelo Anthony acknowledged the obvious. The Eastern Conference is tougher. Winning 54 games and a division title is going to be a lot harder than it was last season.
And just two days before the Knicks’ season-opening game at the Garden against the Bucks, the reigning NBA scoring champion said he didn’t know yet whether he would have enough help for the team to take another step forward this season.
“It’s still early, it’s kind of hard to say what type of team we have,” Anthony said after Monday’s practice. “Do we believe we can win it? Yeah, we have to believe that. It’s kind of hard to say as far as where our team is at, how good of a team we can be. It’s a hard thing to address.”
In last season’s playoffs, with J.R. Smith imploding and Amar’e Stoudemire severely limited, Anthony was without a reliable second scorer.
The All-Star forward averaged 28.5 points in the conference semifinal loss to the Pacers, but none of his teammates reached 20 points in any of the six games, including one game in which Anthony was the only double-digit scorer.
The Post previously reported Anthony, in the last year of his contract, told a confidant he wanted the Knicks to acquire a second scorer. In the offseason, the team added former No. 1 overall pick Andrea Bargnani, along with Metta World Peace, Beno Udrih and rookie Tim Hardaway Jr.
The supporting cast needs to help the star because Mike Woodson said there isn’t much more Anthony can do.
“I could go just go by when I took over the team, Melo, I don’t know if it was the threat of me talking about holding guys accountable, but Melo’s game and our team went to a whole different level,” Woodson said. “Melo’s game really went to a bigger level last season in terms of putting this team on his back. A lot of guys benefited around Melo and Melo benefited from his teammates.
“I think it all goes hand in hand when you’re talking about a big-time player like Melo. He’s got to make players around him feel good about that and he’s got to trust his teammates and they got to trust him. I think the two years that he’s played under me, here in front of the Knicks fans, they couldn’t ask for much better because he’s been pretty damn good.”
The coach said he will not determine who surrounds Anthony in the starting lineup until Wednesday.
Despite Bargnani’s much-hyped acquisition from Toronto, the Italian forward’s defensive deficiencies could see him supplanted as a starter by World Peace. In Monday’s practice, Woodson used both players in the starting unit during scrimmages.
“With Bargnani we can space the floor out, you know, he causes some type of mismatches out there,” Anthony said. “With Metta, he kind of brings that defensive mentality out on the basketball court, gets us going, get the energy going in the game. We know what to expect from both them guys, what type of games that they have. Totally two different type of players.”
Even though World Peace is a far superior defender, Tyson Chandler — the former Defensive Player of the Year — noted Bargnani will have help and won’t necessarily be a liability.
“I really believe Andrea can be a good team defender,” Chandler said. “My whole thing is it’s our job to help him. Obviously, Metta does some incredible things individually as a defender, but it’s our job to help guys that are not known to be defenders.”