NBA

Anthony saw Woodson as ‘new start’ with Knicks

Carmelo Anthony saw the opportunity for a “new start” in New York once coach Mike D’Antoni resigned and was replaced by assistant Mike Woodson.

In an interview on WFAN on Monday morning, Anthony said Woodson called him out in one of his first team meetings as coach.

“It was a new start for me, a new start for the team, a new start for the New York Knicks when coach Woodson came on,” Anthony said. “The most important thing is he held me accountable for everything. I hold myself accountable for everything. It was a lot more responsibility that I had to take on and I was willing to do that.

“When coach Woodson took over the job he sat down in front of everybody and I was the one he pointed to and said my responsibilities had to grow. It was going to be more and more, and I accepted the challenge.”

It has been a tumultuous first year for Anthony since the Knicks acquired him last February from Denver. Anthony thrived with the Nuggets when they used him in isolation and that did not mesh with D’Antoni’s speedball offense, which emphasized ball movement. Anthony’s offensive game suffered and his effort on defense was questioned. But since D’Antoni resigned on March 14, Anthony has improved on both ends and the Knicks are 13-5 under Woodson.

“This year was kind of a roller-coaster year, but right now, when it counts, we’re playing extremely well and everyone’s bought in from myself to Amar’e (Stoudemire) to all the way down to the end of the bench all the way to the staff,” Anthony said. “Everybody is being held accountable, more responsible for their actions. We had to go through what we went through at the beginning and middle of the season to get where we are at now.”

With six games left, the Knicks are positioned in the eighth and final playoff seed in the Eastern Conference. They lead the Bucks by two games, and are ½ game behind the 76ers for seventh. Anthony said they could “absolutely” give the Bulls or Heat a run in the first round of the playoffs with Chicago the top seed and Miami 3 ½ games behind in second.

“I feel very confident with the team now, just with the way we’ve been able to win games the past couple of weeks not on the offensive end, but on defense holding teams to 80-85 points,” Anthony said. “Even on nights when we weren’t scoring, we were able to win tough games. Coming down the stretch that’s what it’s going to take to win because you are not going to have great shooting nights every night. … It’s who wants it the most on the defensive end.”

Anthony said he’s aware of all the criticism leveled at him this season.

“Any challenge I have to face, I will face head on,” Anthony said. “Right now, these past two weeks, the most important thing is that I’m healthy. That was the biggest thing, battling the injuries, dealing with a lot of the changes we’ve had throughout the season. Since coach Woodson came there was a lot of talk about me and coach D’Antoni and that situation. And going through that whole process, and dealing with all the stuff I have to deal with at that point and time, just made me realize that at end of the day I control my own destiny. I control with my career in my hands.”