Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony said he’s willing to take the blame for halting Mike D’Antoni’s speedball offense but said it’s unfair to call him a coach-killer.
“If I’m the one who messed Coach Mike’s system up, you want to blame me, I’ll take it along with everything else,’’ Anthony said after Mike Woodson’s first practice yesterday.
Anthony won the power struggle with D’Antoni, who resigned Wednesday amid an exclusive Post report Anthony had told a confidant he wanted a trade if he didn’t get an assurance D’Antoni would be fired after the season.
The Knicks were 2-8 after Anthony returned from a groin injury and sucked the life out of Linsanity. D’Antoni and Anthony became at odds and the Knicks coach finally felt he couldn’t coach Anthony any longer after asking for either a Anthony trade or a contract extension. Both were denied and D’Antoni quit.
Anthony also sparred with George Karl in Denver, but said he feels being reputed as a coach-killer is unfair as he went into complete damage control yesterday.
“I’m not a do-what-I-do-type-of-guy,’’ Anthony said. “Me and Coach never had that problem where I come out and do what I do and he was going to do what he do.’’
“Of course that [label] bothers me,” Anthony added. “I do everything in my power to try not to get the coach fired.’’
Anthony said he had “a great relationship with Coach,’’ but said he hadn’t talked to D’Antoni since the coach quit.
A source close to Anthony said he’s “never been happier’’ and feels they have a legitimate shot at winning the East with Woodson in charge.
Regarding him taking the blame for D’Antoni’s departure, Anthony said, “I’m human. I hear things being said about me. I read what’s been said about me. I’m not the type of guy to sit there and complain. Is it fair? No.’’
Anthony added he can play in D’Antoni’s speedball system, but admitted the share-the-ball concept sometimes “hurt’’ the team.
“As far as the system working for me or not working for me, it worked in the Olympics when we won the gold medal,’’ Anthony said.
He said returning from the groin injury after the Knicks had caught fire under Jeremy Lin was tough.
“When I came off injury the team was going in a different direction,’’ Anthony said. “Running that system and offense, coming back, I tried to figure it out and tried not to do too much. It felt different.’’
Anthony said with the offensive-minded D’Antoni gone, the players will focus more on defense under former assistant Woodson.
“I think now defensively, guys really want to take that challenge,’’ said Anthony. “When you look at the stats, we’re a top 10 defensive team, and we want to build on that. A lot of guys were communicating, but most importantly, we were listening.’’
Anthony said he doesn’t believe D’Antoni resigned because of him, but couldn’t say why.
“I think it’s false,’’ Anthony said. “Me and Mike were constantly trying to find different ways of what I can do and what he can do as a team. It wasn’t working. We lost games, and when you lose games people say it’s not working. Of course they say the blame is on me.’’
There was no more telling moment than before tipoff vs. Portland in Woodson’s debut when Antony shook a Portland player’s hand and mouthed: “Now it’s showtime.’’