NBA

Knicks rewind: Woodson worried about ‘D’ as season nears

GREEN BAY, Wis. – For the first time this preseason, Knicks coach Mike Woodson sounded worried. And urgent.

With one preseason game left, Woodson said late Wednesday the Knicks defense still isn’t ready for the regular season. Carmelo Anthony added the club has “to get better” on D.

Though it was a preseason game, Woodson acted as if time was running out after the Knicks fell 105-95 to the previously winless Bucks, who are among worst teams in the East. The Knicks close their preseason Friday at Madison Square Garden against the Bobcats before opening the season Wednesday against the Bucks at home.

“We’re still not ready defensively,” Woodson said. “We got five, six days to get there and Friday we’ll play [just] our rotation guys. Overall, we’re competing, but we’re not doing what’s asked to be done on the floor before the game. We got off to a bad start. Even when we can’t make shots, we have to get it done on the other end. That has not been our team in the past. We got to get back to playing Knick defense.’’

The Knicks fell to 2-3 for the preseason, but this was the worst of the losses. Woodson railed in Manchester, N.H., 11 days ago when the Knicks were routed by the Celtics, calling the effort “embarrassing.” But that was mostly hot air: The coach didn’t play his starters in that game.

Wednesday in Green Bay was different.

Woodson rolled out Anthony for 36:28, including major time in the fourth quarter to try to mount a comeback. And he played his regulars — except Raymond Felton (hamstring) — in the first quarter when the Bucks ran out to a 32-23 lead. The starting frontcourt of Tyson Chander, Andrea Bargnani and Anthony isn’t getting it done with the proper rotations on defense. Bargnani is still trying to learn the defensive system.

“We got to get better, we got to get better on the defensive end,’’ said Anthony, who shot a lousy 8-of-23 with seven assists, four turnovers and one technical foul.

“We got to get in sync and communicate more. Those things we can fix quickly but we got to do it now.”

The Knicks ranked only 17th in the NBA last season in defensive efficiency rating (points per 100 possessions). So Woodson’s preseason theme was cracking the top 10 this season. Giving up 105 points to the lowly Bucks isn’t cutting it.

“Our pick-and-roll coverage was sloppy, we’re jumping around too much, gambling, exposing ourselves,” Woodson said. “We need to be solid on the ball. We got to be better guarding the basketball one on one in positioning.”

Bargnani has started all of preseason, but there may be momentum for Woodson to start thinking of Metta World Peace as the starting small forward, shifting Anthony to the 4 and using the Italian big man as a shooter off the bench.

“I’m trying to help him with that,” Chandler said of Bargnani’s rotations. “I’m constantly telling him he doesn’t need to be a great lockdown defender. He needs to be a great team defender. No offense to my great friends, [but] if Dirk [Nowitzki] could do it, he could do it.’’

Why Melo Was So Mad

Anthony picked up a very rare preseason technical after being whistled for traveling and incessantly barking at referee Pat Fraher on the next possession. Why was he so angry? The two have a history.

“He’s the only ref who calls traveling on me in the NBA,” Anthony said. “I think he’s seeing something I’m not seeing.”

Asked whether the referee has explained what he’s doing wrong, Anthony said, “You can’t communicate with them.’’

Anthony is annoyed the new rules about players touching the ball between plays, even before the opening tip, when he always rubs it before handing it to the refs.

“Can’t do that no more,’’ Anthony said.