The truth hurts, and it was delivered yesterday not by Carmelo Anthony but by the Knicks’ youngest player, 22-year-old Iman Shumpert.
Shumpert branded the Knicks season a failure after Saturday’s heartbreaking, second-round KO in Indiana. The Knicks’ young swingman could almost taste South Beach and a matchup against the Heat and now he can only go there to vacation.
“I think we failed,’’ Shumpert said yesterday at the Knicks’ Tarrytown compound. “We failed to do what we were supposed to do. We know we were supposed to go farther and we didn’t. So it’s a fail.”
Asked where they needed to be for him to change his tune, Shumpert said, “At least to the Eastern Conference finals. I feel like we put ourselves in a position to do that, getting the second seed. It was set up for us to get to the Eastern Conference finals and then see what we could do from there.’’
Instead of preparing for a Game 7 last night at the Garden, the Knicks were having their exit meetings with coach Mike Woodson and general manager Glen Grunwald, who will face the music today in a state-of-the-franchise press conference.
One by one, the players filed into the facility’s press room, mostly to offer up a forecast of sunny skies. Except Shumpert, who drilled four 3-pointers in the frantic third quarter Saturday that looked to be the spark of a comeback victory. Shumpert bravely returned Jan. 17 from knee surgery to repair an ACL torn in the first game of the playoffs last April.
Shumpert, who is buddies with Anthony, may have been taking aim at J.R. Smith, whose playoff performance was disastrous.
“Just we’ve got to hold each other accountable, come next year,’’ Shumpert said. “Little things like not playing hard should never come into play. Letting a game slip at home [in Game 1] should never come into play. Getting beat on the boards when we know that’s a point of emphasis in the series shouldn’t happen. We’ve got to take care of the little things, and we didn’t. It finally caught up with us.”
Perhaps Shumpert is still naïve, has not experienced as many playoff disappointments as Anthony, who has gotten out of the second round just twice in 10 seasons. Anthony had a completely different viewpoint, repackaging his spin from Saturday, when he called 2012-13 “a hell of a season.’’
Anthony, who played through a bum left shoulder, feels the club will be on the verge of something special next season, though Grunwald’s flexibility to make moves will be strangled by the new CBA that hampers big-market teams willing to spend.
“We’re right there,’’ Anthony said. “We’re right there. We look back and recap this whole season, just some detail-oriented things we got to fix. But we’re right there, I believe we’re right there as a team, as a unit. I’m a big believer in that and very confident. I don’t think we underachieved.’’
When told of Shumpert’s critique, Anthony agreed — to a point.
“Shump is right, it’s time to hold each other accountable,” he said. “But it’s easy to say that after the fact, sitting on the outside looking in.’’
Perhaps Shumpert recognizes the urgency of this past season and next. Anthony can opt out of his contract after next season and Amar’e Stoudemire will become a trade chip with his expiring contract. It might be time to gut the roster in the summer of 2014.
Point guard Raymond Felton also cued up the positive rhetoric and said he hopes the entire crew returns.
“It was a great year, great run, definitely a huge step from years in the past,’’ Felton said. “Something to build on. Definitely not satisfying, but can’t really be too upset.”
Knicks center Tyson Chandler, who had a brutal postseason, was more tempered than Anthony but optimistic about 2013-14.
“We’re further along than we are last year, but we’re still not there yet,’’ said Chandler, who included the coaching staff in a list of facets that need to improve. “I think we have to be more efficient in all areas. My goal next year is to be No. 1. I definitely think we can do it.’’
Smith, Stoudemire and Jason Kidd, all of whom had second-round playoff stumbles, did not address the media.
“We set a standard,” Anthony said. “We kind of teased the city of New York. Because now everybody expects us to play at this high level. That’s how we hold ourselves accountable to come back and be at that level and even better.’’
marc.berman@nypost.com