Steve Popper

Staff Writer, @stevepopper

NEW YORK – The results were visible on the court Sunday afternoon, but to find the roots that led to the Knicks 104-94 win over the Atlanta Hawks, you have to go back 24 hours to the team’s long day behind closed doors at their practice facility.

They watched film and scrimmaged as usual, but they gathered together – players, coaches and even Phil Jackson – and just talked for a long time, discussing what had gone wrong so far this season and how to make it better.

“It was everybody,” Carmelo Anthony said. “Players, coaches, everybody was in there and I thought the players did a great job of just kind of voicing their opinion on kind of where we want to be, what type of team we want to be, where we want to go and things that we want to see change.”

Did Jackson, the team president and holder of 11 championship rings as a coach, hold court?

“Nah, he just listened this time,” Anthony said. “Which was good.”

You can take whatever you’d like out of that – Anthony wasn’t saying, other than a sly smile. But the frustrations of the players has hardly been hidden with the efforts of Jackson to continue to push them into the triangle offense. Even coach Jeff Hornacek, who has complied with Jackson’s plans, praised the play of Anthony and the simple use of pick and roll to spring him time after time.

“I don’t know what year this is for me but I’ve had plenty of these kind-of player meetings and discussions and I think every team has that,” Anthony said. “There comes a point and time throughout the season where you have to re-evaluate things and step out of the situation, look into the situation, see what you can do better, look in the mirror at each other at yourself and see the things you can improve.

“I thought we did that yesterday and today, I don’t want to say we won today because of the meeting, but you clear the air like that and guys speak out and talk and they don’t have to hold it in. They don’t feel pressured in the open forum. Guys spoke and everybody responded.”

Anthony did perhaps more than anyone else. The last player left from the days before Jackson took over as Knicks president and some days, like Sunday afternoon, it seems as if he’s the only player around. Playing without Joakim Noah, who was a last-minute scratch with an illness, Anthony matched his season high with 31 points.

For one day Anthony took charge and it was enough. With 2:23 remaining in the game, Anthony drove to the rim and put up a shot that missed off the rim. He grabbed the rebound in traffic, tried again and then pulled down another rebound. This time, he was fouled and he let out a scream, raising his head and pouring it out – celebration, exhaustion, effort.

“I don’t know where that came from,” Anthony said. “Yeah, it was fun. I try to bring the fun back into the game. And when you stop having fun the game gets boring. It gets monotonous. You do the same thing over and over again. I try to bring the fun back in the game and enjoy the game and today was one of those games, where yeah, it was fun to be out there.”

With Noah announced as out shortly before game time Kyle O’Quinn got his first start of the season and just second since joining the Knicks. He responded with six points and seven rebounds in the first quarter, helping the Knicks to an early lead. But he was hit with three fouls in the quarter and didn’t play again until the second half. The Knicks build leads of as many as 10 points in the second quarter, but settled for a five-point halftime advantage.

It was in the third quarter that Anthony, along with a mix-and-match assortment of role players, took over. Leading 53-51 the Knicks ran off 12 straight points, Anthony scoring five of them and 10 in the period. Porzingis sat much of the quarter after being hit with his fourth foul and Hornacek began to toss players on the floor to try to find help for Anthony.

Willy Hernangomez delivered and the team milked a few moments out of Marshall Plumlee. Courntey Lee chipped in with 14 points and Porzingis had 19 points and 11 rebounds.

“We talked a lot about what we want to do, how we want to be better,” Porzingis said. “We had a good meeting. We talked a lot of stuff through. We came out today playing the way we need to be playing.”

Email: popper@northjersey.com