LOS ANGELES — It was Lob City vs. Sob City when the reeling Knicks faced the 10-5 Clippers on Thanksgiving Eve at Staples Center.
But Amar’e Stoudemire made it clear at Wednesday’s morning shootaround his locker-room rant in Portland wasn’t finger-pointing. Stoudemire also said he’s not blaming Carmelo Anthony, who scored 34 points in Monday’s 102-91 loss to the Trail Blazers in Portland, for the offense’s lack of ball movement.
After each of the last three losses, Stoudemire has blamed the lack of ball movement as the prime culprit. It figured he’s referring to either Anthony or J.R. Smith, perhaps more the latter because Smith has struggled badly during the six-game losing streak that had the Knicks at 3-10 before Wednesday night’s game. (They finish the trip Friday against the Nugget as Carmelo Anthony returns to Denver for the second time as a Knick.)
Stoudemire said he wasn’t singling out a particular player. Anthony didn’t react well to Stoudemire’s ball-movement theory Tuesday, saying the defense is a much bigger problem.
“You guys do that a lot,’’ Stoudemire said of the media. “When we say things like ball movement, [we’re] talking about it as a team as a whole. We all are a unit. It’s not to single out anyone at all. You guys seem to do that. That’s not the case.
“We’re a team together and united. When we discuss things like defense, we’re discussing team defense. When we’re discussing ball movement, we’re talking about team ball movement.’’
Stoudemire said he hasn’t talked to Anthony to clear up the issue. It has become a touchy subject, though Stoudemire denied there’s a fractured locker room.
“We all know that we’re together,’’ Stoudemire said. “No sense sitting down one-on-one with him. We all understand what we need to do. We love each other on and off the court, so we just got to get through this little rut. Once we start winning, everything will be smoothed out.’’
The Knicks were to get back starting point guard Raymond Felton to face Chris Paul and the Clippers. Felton, who sat out four straight games with a hip/hamstring strain, took the blame for the club’s poor ball movement when he played.
But coach Mike Woodson and Anthony are still much more focused on the defensive end, where the Knicks played awfully during a first quarter in which the Blazers were left open from the 3-point line and got to the rim at will for a parade of layups. It was 34-18 after one quarter.
“It’s both,’’ Stoudemire said. “Defense is an area we can still win games when offensively we’re not playing well. That’s what Woodson’s saying. We can still win ballgames, win championships if you play great defensively. That’s what we’re keying in on now.’’
Woodson has not cried about the ball movement, saying everyone’s getting shots, not enough are making them.
When asked Wednesday if blaming ball movement is an easy excuse instead of looking in the mirror, Woodson said, “You can look at it in that light.’’
The Knicks went through a long morning shootaround that lasted 90 minutes. Woodson’s shootarounds usually take an hour at most.
“I wanted to work on some things for us and had to go through [the Clippers’] stuff,’’ Woodson said. “It’s a little longer than what we normally do but, hell, it’s not going to hurt us.’’