Are Carmelo Anthony’s cryptic Instagram posts a shot at Phil Jackson?
Is Carmelo Anthony mad at Phil Jackson?
Here’s the evidence.
On Tuesday, Jackson did a radio interview with CBS Sports that suggested Anthony, the best player on his team, the Knicks, tends to hold the ball too long, but is capable of playing a similar role to Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant in Jackson’s mythical triangle offense, that once won many championships for the Bulls and Lakers.
Anthony was asked about that after the Knicks got their breakfast, lunch and dinner handed to them by the Cavaliers at Madison Square Garden, and was rather bristly, saying he did not want to answer those sorts of questions, and according to ESPN, started to walk away from reporters when asked, perhaps somewhat jokingly, before continuing his interview.
"I don't even know what was said, to be honest with you. I just don't even want to talk about that, what he's talking about exactly. I want to stay away from that at this point," Anthony said. "My focus is my teammates and winning. We've been playing great basketball, and that's the only thing I'm focused on. Whatever Phil said, he said it. I have nothing to say about that."
Then, these posts came in on Thursday.
The Knicks had been playing pretty good basketball of late, but with Derrick Rose out and playing on a back to back, wet the bed against the Cavs. Some of this could certainly stem from the frustration of that blowout loss. But it could also be about Jackson. It also could be not about him.
Find out next week on Westworld.