SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Carmelo Anthony said Friday he was hurt by the timing of Phil Jackson’s criticism during the Knicks’ winning stretch and confirmed his recent Instagram posts were in response to the team president.

Anthony also said he wishes Jackson would come to him first with his critiques.

“I think I said my part of it,’’ Anthony said, regarding his Instagram response to Jackson’s recent remarks that Anthony holds on to the ball too long, slowing down the triangle offense. “I’m a big quote guy. Got a million quotes on my phone. Sometimes they come up at the right time.

“I think we’re playing good basketball,’’ Anthony added before scoring 33 points in the Knicks’ 103-100 victory in the Kings’ new downtown arena on Friday night. “I don’t know what’s this cloud over the team now. We lost a game. I just feel if it was something he wanted to address and had a stance on something, the door has always been open both ways. He always sends me a text or talks to me if it was any type of problem that was going on. I always welcome the conversation with open arms.”

Anthony posted twice to Instagram on Thursday — one a photo of his idol, Muhammad Ali, having arrows fired at him, the other a photo of himself with a quote in the caption: “EGO is the only requirement to destroy any relationship. So, be a BIGGER person, skip the ‘E’ and let it ‘GO.’ ” The posts gave the appearance of a feud with Jackson.

“At the end of the day, my focus is us and what we’re doing,’’ said Anthony, who has a no-trade clause. “We’re at a point as a team we’re making strides, playing good basketball. I just don’t know what was behind the comments or where the comments came from.

“I just want to continue to do what we’re doing — playing ball. We’re playing good basketball now. To have a temporary black cloud …’’

Jackson ignited the recent spat Tuesday, when he told CBS Sports Network: “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. That is one of the things we work with.”

Anthony, who hit two game-winning last-second shots in the past two weeks to break out of a three-year funk in the clutch, said he “embraces’’ the slings and arrows aimed his way from fans and media, but was surprised it would come from management.

“I know it happens — it’s New York and something I know,’’ Anthony said. “It’s not something I expect [from the team]. I didn’t talk to him. I didn’t know where he was coming from. He wants to talk about it, cool. If he doesn’t, cool. In my eyes, it’s over to me.’’

Jackson is expected to join the club this weekend in Los Angeles, where he could meet with his star player. Anthony admitted he doesn’t speak nearly as often to Jackson as he does to general manager Steve Mills, who is with the team in Sacramento. But they do talk occasionally.

“You know more than I do as far as where he’s going,’’ Anthony said. “It’s not my concern to know where he’s at. I’m here with the team.’’

Anthony couldn’t remember the last time they spoke, but the two have gone out to dinner on occasion.

“I sat there, listened,’’ Anthony said. “If it was something good he had talked about, we talked about it. If it was something we could do better. I could do better, we talked about that. It’s always been good conversation when we talked. I don’t know what’s going on.’’

Asked whether Jackson ever has brought up the issue of him holding onto the ball too long, Anthony said: “Nothing specifically. Conversations are more about basketball and what we see about the team, the film and games in different situations. Nothing specific about me doing one thing or me doing another thing.

“At the end of the day, we’re playing good basketball. That’s the only thing that really matters at this point. Any negativity coming to us toward the team, I don’t think we need it at this point, especially when we’re trying to make a run on this five-game road trip and have a chance to do something special.”

Coach Jeff Hornacek said Anthony wasn’t affected by Jackson’s remarks when he scored just eight points in Wednesday’s blowout loss to Cleveland.

“I haven’t seen any of it,’’ Hornacek said. “He comes out and plays his game. I don’t know if that stuff effects him. His focus is on this team and how it could win games.’’