LOS ANGELES — Nuggets superstar Carmelo Anthony thought he would be sitting courtside at Staples Center with LeBron James last night at the NBA Finals.
But Anthony, who hung out with James in Los Angeles Friday night, got stood up.
“I know we were supposed to come together,” Anthony said in a Staples Center hallway at halftime. “But at the last minute he said he had something else to do. Not something better. But something else.”
Anthony and Chris Bosh, also a 2010 free agent and Knicks target, attended last night’s Game 2 at Staples Center.
Though they went out Friday, Anthony said he can’t figure out James’ intentions.
“I have no idea,” Anthony said. “I talk to him all the time, but that’s a sensitive topic. I have to stay away from that.
“He’ll be him wherever he goes anyway,” Anthony said. “If he stays in Cleveland, he’ll be him. If he goes elsewhere, he’ll be him.”
Anthony, who left in the third quarter, is a free agent in 2011. If the Knicks can’t get any of the major stars, team president Donnie Walsh is on record saying he could wait for the following summer, because Anthony will be a free agent, and the Knicks will gain more cap space with Eddy Curry’s contract expiring.
“It’s already started,” Anthony said, referring to the 2011 hype. “But I’m not thinking about it. I’ve got to sit back and see what happens [this summer].”
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Lakers coach Phil Jackson warned Celtics assistant Tom Thibodeau that the pressure is on in Chicago — a sports town which expects the Bulls to win.
“Chicago is a rabid sports town, that’s for sure,” said Jackson, who won six championships as Bulls coach. “You have to produce if you’re in Chicago. Otherwise, like some of those other cities that expect winners, things happen.”
Thibodeau has agreed to a three-year contract to coach the Bulls, in the forefront of the James chase.
The Post reported exclusively on May 28 that Thibodeau was talking with James’ advisor William Wesley about representation, and that the Bulls could become a possibility as a consequence. The Post reported in Thursday’s editions Thibodeau, also a Nets candidate, was close to heading to the Bulls after spurning New Orleans.