The Knicks were frustrated at the end of the loss to the Pacers — at one end Iman Shumpert brushed Paul George on the elbow during his three pointer and was called for a foul. At the other end on the final shot, Carmelo Anthony helped create a lot more body contact with George but there was no call on ‘Melo’s shot.

That frustration just cost Knicks coach Mike Woodson $25,000.

With the 3-8 Knicks needing every edge they can get, Woodson went with the “our star isn’t getting enough respect from the refs” line of arguments in an interview on ESPN Radio, as transcribed by our friends at Newsday (hat tip to SLAM).

“Absolutely not,” Woodson said Thursday on ESPN Radio. “I’m not going to shy away from that either. I think Melo gets hit more than ever….

“I’ve been at this thing 30 years,” Woodson said. “Sometimes I’m starting to wonder what’s a foul and what’s not a foul. What are you going to do? They can’t see everything and I understand that. Sometimes they miss calls. I thought he got bumped on it. Hell, he didn’t get the call so we have to move on.”

The league is consistent — players or coaches who criticize referees get fined. So the league came down with a $25,000 fine on Woodson Friday for those comments.

Woodson will gladly pay it if it gets his guy some calls… well, not gladly, but it’s less painful.

Anthony’s free throw rate (the number of free throw attempts per field goal attempts) is at .339, which is really close to the .344 he got last season. His free throw rate in general has been lower in New York than it was in Denver — because in Denver he attacked the rim more and didn’t settle for jumpers.

This was Woodson just trying to get an advantage, as he should. But Anthony has not been the problem with the Knicks offense — he remains an elite scorer in this league. It’s the lack of consistent help around him that is the bigger issue. And that’s not on the refs.