MILWAUKEE — Carmelo Anthony was not pouting at Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni or his teammates. He was not ticked he took just 12 shots in Detroit Friday night.
According to people familiar with the situation, Anthony refused to talk to the media and bolted for the team bus because of his anger at the referees not calling a foul on Chris Wilcox on his potential game-tying finger roll with 36 seconds left. Anthony didn’t want to potentially incur a fine.
TV replays showed that Anthony was touched on the arm by Wilcox on the missed layup — at least Anthony and the coaching staff agreed on something.
Nevertheless Anthony’s pouty behavior in Friday night’s 99-95 loss to the Pistons, his bad oncourt body language, his failure to join a timeout huddle when not in the game has raised red flags about his readiness to handle the pressure for being a basketball star in New York.
The honeymoon is officially over. Anthony, coming off an historically awful 6-point, 2-of-12 outing in the terrible loss, will resume talking and playing today when the Knicks face the Bucks at Bradley Center, with the club having fallen into seventh place.
Nobody remembers Patrick Ewing — or even Stephon Marbury — refusing to talk after a game. The NBA does not look into the matter when it is just one occurrence, according to a league official.
But Anthony’s display Friday is the most alarming sign yet he is not fitting into the team structure, as his self-absorbed reputation he carried in Denver is resurfacing in New York after just 14 games.
Anthony showed no animation when he watched from the bench, ignored Ronny Turiaf’s attempt to high-five him when he left the court after the final buzzer and appeared to lecture Toney Douglas when he posted up and did not get the ball — resulting in Melo getting an offensive foul for extra bumping.
Earlier this week, Anthony questioned the Knicks’ defensive schemes after the Indiana losses. Amar’e Stoudemire, his buddy, not-so-subtly called him out after the game, saying the new guys have to adjust to D’Antoni’s system.
Not that he hadn’t already, but Stoudemire endeared himself to the Knicks coaching staff even more with his postgame remarks in Detroit, with the not-so-veiled message.
If anyone is to stop the situation from erupting into a full-bown crisis, it is Stoudemire, who has impressed team president Donnie Walsh with his leadership.
The feeling from the coaching staff, Stoudemire and other players is Anthony needs to change and adapt to the team and personnel around him rather than the opposite. Anthony must start ingratiating himself more to his new teammates who love D’Antoni’s up-tempo style.
Anthony’s first strike upon joining the club, according to a source, was mocking the idea the Knicks had given up too many players to get him, as some well-liked guys — Raymond Felton, Wilson Chandler, Danilo Gallinari, Timofey Mozgov — were sent away.
In a Wall Street Journal story this week on the Anthony-Stoudemire shooting dynamic, Anthony reportedly encouraged Shawne Williams to drive the ball more and take fewer 3-pointers, which is a major staple to D’Antoni’s system.
On Friday night, as Anthony hid on the bus, Stoudemire gave a spirited defense of D’Antoni.
“We have to subscribe to the Mike D’Antoni system,” he said. “It works. I’ve been part of it for a long time now. It’s been very successful. We have to buy into it. That’s the way we’re going to win. We’ve proven it works with the team we had before the trade and it could work with the guys we have now.”
D’Antoni has adapted to Anthony’s greatest strength, scoring on isolation plays, but the coach still wants ball movement, and if his offense does not produce a good shot in the first 17 seconds of the shot clock, then Anthony has the freedom to create on his own in the final seven seconds.
In his defense, it hasn’t helped Anthony’s transition the trade was met with mixed emotions from D’Antoni and Walsh because of the young guys lost. D’Antoni made a Freudian slip Thursday when he referred to Denver’s post-trade success, calling the former Knicks “my guys.”
Anthony is not insensitive to those references nor is he unaware D’Antoni and George Karl share the same agent — Warren LeGarie.
D’Antoni gave the team the day off yesterday and avoided the Anthony issue after Friday’s disaster.
D’Antoni let his guy, Stoudemire, do the talking for him.