Timing has not been Knicks president Phil Jackson’s strong suit since he arrived.
With the Knicks moving three games over .500 for the first time since he took over and Carmelo Anthony turning into his old clutch self as he readied to face the mighty Cavaliers on Wednesday, Jackson decided it was time to nitpick his star’s tendency to hold onto the ball too long, sometimes hurting the flow of the triangle offense.
Jackson again went rogue in an interview Tuesday night after his prior talk with an ESPN national writer landed him in a controversy over referring to LeBron James’ management team as a “posse.’’
“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,’’ Jackson told CBS Sports Network. “So he has a little bit of a tendency to hold it for three, four, five seconds, and then everybody comes to a stop. 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.”
The Knicks try to get Anthony isolated on what is called the pinch-post — the left elbow — in triangle spacing that makes it hard for clubs to double-team.
“He can play that role that Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant played,” Jackson said, invoking the stars whom he coached to dynasties with the Bulls and Lakers. “It’s a perfect spot for him to be in that isolated position on the weak side, because it’s an overload offense and there’s a weak-side man that always has an advantage if the ball is swung.”
Anthony has had one of the most significant 10-day stretches of his Knicks career, hitting two last-second game-winning shots after spending three seasons struggling to produce in the final minutes of games. As recently as 12 days ago, Anthony was getting booed by the Garden fans when he seemed to stop the offense by holding the ball and then trying to make a tough isolation play against tight coverage.
Knicks coach Jeff Hornacek said Anthony has more license than almost any other player in terms of his ball-holding.
“There’s probably times that happens and there’s times he does what he does [Tuesday] night and just carries us,’’ Hornacek said. “We’ve talked about moving the ball [but] holding it a second or two. For another guy it’s too long. For Carmelo, it’s fine. Other guys would understand they still should cut. We keep going to him there, he’ll make passes out of there. That’s when we’ll become really good. He did it [Tuesday].’’
Anthony continued his clutch play in the second half of the Knicks’ win in Miami on Tuesday when he scored a season-high 35 points. Anthony lifted the Knicks on his back during a 13-point third quarter and carried on with his shot-making in the final period. He entered Wednesday averaging 23.5 points per game.
Jackson also discussed why the triangle offense always seems to be knocked by his detractors. The Knicks are playing a lot less triangle this season under Hornacek’s high-paced attack that features more pick-and-rolls.
“I think there are two reasons,” Jackson said of the triangle’s stigma. “One is it’s always a little bit of a pie-in-your-face type of thing to say that this [the triangle offense] has been the reason for winning. The reason for winning, obviously, is good players. And when good players want to play together and they join in a form or a format to play together, then really good things happen.
“I think the other thing is, simply, it becomes something to attack. And I think it’s easy to attack it because it doesn’t promote basic basketball that’s being played now in the NBA, which is an open floor. But there is a place for it.’’