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INDIANAPOLIS — The Knicks are bickering about their impotent offense as they enter tonight’s humongous Game 4 at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in disarray.
It’s all going haywire for the Knicks at the wrong time, trailing the Pacers 2-1 in their second-round series. Call them the Bickerbockers.
Carmelo Anthony was perplexed by negative comments made the past two days by center Tyson Chandler.
“I don’t want to go back and forth with that,” Anthony said. “I don’t know exactly what he’s talking about. But if he feels that way, we’re about to get together right now amongst ourselves and figure that out and get his take and perspective on that comment. We’ll handle that internally and figure it out among ourselves.”
Sunday, a day after ripping the defense because the Knicks “abandoned the game plan” and are “playing like individuals,” Chandler took aim at the offense, indicating some are playing too selfishly and not passing the ball. The Knicks scored 71 points on 35 percent shooting in Game 3.
Chandler may or may not have been talking about Anthony, who took just three shots in the fourth quarter of that game and 16 total. But that was how some perceived it. Chandler could have been pointing the finger instead at J.R. Smith (4-for-12) and point guard Raymond Felton (1-for-8). Chandler was the first to tout Anthony as MVP earlier this season and was close to him as an Olympic teammate, but was not happy with Anthony last season during the Melo/Jeremy Lin rift.
The Knicks offense isn’t the only sick case. Smith and Kenyon Martin are being quarantined from the team because of a flu bug and missed their second straight practice. Iman Shumpert has a bruised left knee — the same knee in which he tore his ACL last postseason — and did not practice. He is expected to play tonight.
After ripping the team Saturday for not helping out in guarding Pacers center Roy Hibbert, Chandler said Sunday: “Honestly, I think we’re doing it to ourselves. I watched the tape myself and there’s open looks. We have to be willing passers. You have to sacrifice yourself sometimes for the betterment of the team, for the betterment of your teammates. When you drive in the paint and you draw, you kick it. I think we need to do a better job of allowing the game to dictate who takes the shots and not the individuals.”
Then he added, “I’m not saying that anybody’s doing it maliciously. I think it’s more so you get in a situation where you want to take over the game or you want to make a big shot, where you have to just stick to the game plan. Good teams win basketball games, unless you’re a great, great, great, great individual. We only have a few of those come through.”
Mike Woodson said it was a positive that Chandler aired his criticism publicly, believing he is showing leadership. But there’s plenty of tension.
Chandler, who was named to the All-Defensive First Team yesterday (sharing a spot with the Bulls’ Joakim Noah), walked briskly past a handful of reporters after practice and was on the team bus within seconds.
“Again, I don’t get mad at things like that when you’ve got in-house — sometimes bickering amongst each other is pretty healthy,’’ Woodson said. “I don’t call it bickering. Maybe that’s not the word to use. But I just think he’s being a good teammate. Sometimes it’s good that it comes from within the guys that are on the floor working. I don’t see anything wrong with it.”
Anthony disputes that he is not moving the ball properly or being a ballhog.
“The shots I was taking, I didn’t think I forced anything,’’ Anthony said. “The shots I took, I felt I could make. I’ll continue to take those shots.”
Anthony also denied the club wasn’t unified.
“We’re good as far as mentally and everyone being on the same page, everyone’s staying confident,’’ Anthony said. “We have a lot of heart and we’re not going to fold.”
With Smith in a horrendous shooting slump the past five games and now under the weather, Anthony seems to realize he will have to play like a superstar.
“It all falls on me anyway,’’ Anthony said. “I accept that. I expect that. I look forward to that challenge [tonight]. It’s a must-win for us. I’ll come out a little bit more aggressive because we don’t want to go back home 3-1.”
marc.berman@nypost.com