Sports

Patrick Ewing knows the vortex Carmelo Anthony’s caught up in

Patrick Ewing was back in the World’s Most Famous Arena on Friday night resuming his role as arguably the world’s most famous Knick.

At age 54, he’s an assistant coach for the Hornets these days, but he might as well have been running for Mayor of New York with all the handshakes being exchanged a few hours before the Knicks beat the Hornets, 110-107, at the Garden.

If Ewing had a love-hate relationship with fans during his Hall of Fame playing career, it’s all love now. When his face appeared on the giant scoreboard during a timeout early in the game, a loud cheer filled the building. He saluted back with a wave.

“Just trying to get a win,” Ewing said earlier of the Hornets, who entered having lost two straight. “But we don’t have the turmoil y’all got.”





Yes, Ewing is aware of the Melodrama in New York, where trade rumors and front-office friction involving Carmelo Anthony have been a daily topic. If anyone knows what it’s like to have the kind of love-hate relationship Anthony is going through these days with Knicks fans, it’s Ewing, the team’s first overall pick in 1985 and the franchise foundation for 15 seasons.

“I just blocked it out and did my job,” Ewing told The Post. “You have to have tough skin. You can’t worry about what people think. As long as you’re out there doing your best that’s all you can do.”

Anthony heard boos and cheers Friday night. The boos came when he missed the first two of three free-throws with 3:06 left in the third quarter and again early in the fourth when he missed badly on a 3-pointer from the key.





“Act like you care,” someone yelled from the crowd. Yet Anthony heard cheers when he drained a short jumper with 13 seconds left to give the Knicks a 109-105 lead.

Anthony, who finished with 18 points on 8-of-26 shooting, has also heard he’s too focused on scoring. He dominates the ball.

He slows down the offense.

Sound familiar? Those were the complaints about Ewing toward the end of his career despite having led the Knicks to the NBA Finals in 1994 and playing hurt before the 1999 Finals.

Ewing might be in Charlotte, but he likes what he has heard about the way Anthony is dealing with swirling trade rumors and front-office friction.

“From what I’ve seen, he’s handling himself with class,” Ewing said. “It seems he’s been saying all the right things.”





You might remember Ewing eventually traded to Seattle before the start of the 2000-2001 season. It was the end of an era. The Knicks haven’t been much of anything since.

It was said then that Ewing requested a trade. Asked if he had grown tired of the criticism by the time he left New York, Ewing didn’t want to go that far down memory lane.

“I’ll just leave that alone,” he said.

You can’t blame Anthony if he has gotten to that point. First a Phil Jackson confidant writes an internet article saying Anthony has “outlived his usefulness in New York.” Now the Knicks are openly shopping him and making it seem like no one wants his services.

“It is what it is,” Ewing said.





Hopefully, someday soon an NBA team will give Ewing the chance to be a head coach, a goal he still wants to achieve.

“I’m still working and still learning,” he said. “I came close this summer at Memphis and Sacramento.”

For some reason there’s a perception big men can’t coach in the NBA. But Hornets coach Steve Clifford begs to differ, especially when it comes to Ewing. “He’s a big plus for our staff,” Clifford said.

Anthony probably won’t play 15 years for the Knicks like Ewing did, and you wonder if he ever will receive the kind of appreciation in retirement Ewing gets these days. In the current climate, “once a Knick, always a Knick” doesn’t necessarily apply to Anthony.





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