Notebook: Come At The King, Best You Don’t Miss

Annoyed Melo

Carmelo Anthony is usually one of the most pleasant superstars to talk to postgame. Even when the Knicks have been bad – and that’s been more often than not in recent years – Melo always fronts a huge throng of media each night and answers every question. After a 32-point drubbing at home on Wednesday, and some ill-timed comments from president Phil Jackson during the week suggesting that Anthony was a ball-stopper, the Knicks forward was visibly annoyed in his postgame media scrum.

“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.”

In an interview with CBS Sports Network that aired Tuesday, Jackson said: “Carmelo a lot of times wants to hold the ball longer than — we have a rule: If you hold a pass two seconds, you benefit the defense. So he has a little bit of a tendency to hold it for three, four, five seconds, and then everybody comes to a stop,” Jackson said. “That is one of the things we work with. But he’s adjusted to [the triangle], he knows what he can do, and he’s willing to see its success.”

Cavs’ Water Bottle Challenge

The level of disrespect from the Cavs reached an all-time high.

After taking apart the Knicks, and just seconds remaining in a game in which they had a 31-point lead, the Cavs’ starters decided to have a little fun on the bench with the water bottle challenge.

The video that become a social media hit immediately shows a few Cavs players taking goes at trying to land the bottle upright — and failing miserably. At one point, LeBron James tossed the bottle forward, and it landed on the court. James quickly lunged out on the MSG floor to quickly grab the bottle while play went down the opposite end of the court.

“I always have fun,” James said. “The game of basketball is always fun for me. Obviously, when you lose a game, you feel a certain way about it, you think about what you could have done better. But the game of basketball is fun, and for me, once the game — I start showing up and I am not having fun no more, then I won’t be sitting talking to you guys postgame.”

Kyrie Loves Playing At MSG

It seems like Kyrie Irving reserves some of his best games for the Madison Square Garden crowd. The New Jersey native is averaging 28.4 points in six games at the Garden — his highest scoring average among all NBA arenas.

On Wednesday he finished with 28 points, including 4-6 from distance.

“I’ve loved this place since I was a kid sitting in the nose bleed seats,” said Irving postgame. “Every time I come out here I want to put on a show for the fans. I never take it for granted.”

Feature Image via: Associated Press