NOT SO MELO: Carmelo Anthony walks back to the locker room after being ejected in the fourth quarter of the Knicks’ 110-106 loss to the Bulls last night at the Garden. Anthony, who was unhappy with the officiating, scored 29 points. (Anthony J. Causi (2))
Carmelo Anthony already was back in the Knicks locker room, having picked up two technical fouls. He heard the Garden crowd roar.
“I walked to the hallway and Woody was walking back. Then I was in the shower and Tyson was in here,” said Anthony who quickly was joined by coach Mike Woodson and then center Tyson Chandler after all three were ejected in last night’s fourth quarter. “That’s how the night was going.
“It was one of them days.”
It was, in a word, frustrating. Anthony picked up a first-quarter technical foul when he yapped after not getting a call on a drive to the basket. Then in the fourth quarter, he was rocked by two solid picks from Chicago center Joakim Noah.
“So you did see it?” Anthony said of the two bone-shaking — but legal — picks set by Noah that led to Anthony’s foul on Luol Deng and a subsequent swipe, more frustration and a game-banishing second technical 6:45 from the game’s end. “So I don’t need to answer that.”
Anthony was symbolic of the frustration the Knicks felt in their 110-106 loss to the Bulls that contained nine technical fouls and four ejections — Noah was bounced along with Chandler 4:39 from the end.
But hard picks and aggressive Bulls defense were only parts of the Knicks’ frustration. They started unable to hit the ocean from the sand, shooting under 40 percent in the first quarter as the Bulls — as they did in the first meeting between the teams in Chicago — revved up the defense.
Anthony finished with 29 points — his ankle, knee and hip which caused him to miss two games before his return against Brooklyn — were fine. The rest of him, not so much.
“It wasn’t so much how they defended. From the jump, they were the more physical team and it carried on throughout the whole game. It kind of got to us,” said Anthony. “We reacted rather than coming out being the more aggressive team. When we tried to be aggressive. it was a little too late.”
The Bulls led by as many as 25 points before the Knicks — with a 45-point fourth quarter — made a belated charge. By the time the score — if not the realistic chance of winning — got interesting, Anthony was back in the locker room.
Where he soon was joined by Woodson. Then Chandler. When Anthony saw Woodson, he thought, “Something’s got to be wrong.
“Usually the coaches know when to stop,” he said.
And after vowing the Knicks will be ready at the outset for Minnesota in the Garden tomorrow, Anthony looked ahead to the next Bulls meeting.
“We got them January 10 back in the Garden. We will be prepared for that,” Anthony said.
Actually, it’s Jan. 11.
It was one of them nights.