If you think the chaos surrounding the Knicks has become a circus, you’re not alone.
George Karl, one of the more established available coaches, should the Knicks fire Mike Woodson, looked at the situation at the Garden from afar, and called it hell.
Interviewed recently by blitzkrieg.com, Karl was asked if he was waiting for a call to return to coaching. If he is, it sure doesn’t sound like he’s pining for one from Knicks owner Jim Dolan.
“There are days I wish it would ring and there are days I don’t want it to ring. I mean, I watch the Knicks play and I wouldn’t want to be in that hell for a million dollars,’’ Karl said. “It’s just New York City and the Garden and the immensity of the pressure. I think Mike Woodson is standing up to it with tremendous integrity.’’
There’s been plenty of drama to deal with. Iman Shumpert got visibly vexed with Carmelo Anthony during a timeout Sunday versus New Orleans after a defensive miscue, and Metta World Peace and Kenyon Martin started jawing at each other before the game.
“We eating pasta, he had elbow pasta, I had shell pasta, and I told him how my shell pasta is better than his elbow pasta. And he was pretty upset about that,’’ World Peace deadpanned. “He loves elbows pasta, but I disagree, I think shell pasta is better. I don’t care. I will stand by that. Shell pasta.’’
Both big men — as well as Woodson and Anthony — insisted the Knicks’ offcourt chemistry is fine. But Martin acknowledged their NBA-worst 3-13 record is clear evidence their oncourt chemistry is lacking.
“We don’t have to talk about it, man. Your win and loss record tells you that,’’ Martin said. “But we’re together as a bunch; we just need to put it on the court. We talk about what we need to do, how we can fix it. It’s about us going out and getting that one win and seeing how we did it, just building on it.’’
Martin and J.R. Smith both sat out practice Tuesday with a rest day.
“J.R. and Kenyon went through conditioning and then we pulled them out of contact,’’ Woodson said. “[Wednesday] I’m sure they’ll be ready to go for practice. J.R. was a little sore. Kenyon was a little sore, too. We have to be a little precautious.’’