Report: Carmelo Anthony told Tim Hardaway Jr. he was going to beat him up

The New York Knicks continue to lose basketball games at an impressive clip, and tempers may be starting to boil over as a result.

According to ESPN’s Chris Broussard, Carmelo Anthony and Tim Hardaway Jr. got into an argument during New York’s loss to the Brooklyn Nets last week that involved at least one physical threat. The two apparently starting going at it after Anthony thought Hardaway had screamed at him to get a rebound.

The New York Knicks were en route to their fifth straight loss last week against Brooklyn when a frustrated Tim Hardaway Jr. screamed angrily, “Get the rebound!”

Certain his second-year teammate was speaking to him, Carmelo Anthony approached Hardaway on the way down the court and used an expletive to ask Hardaway who in the world he thought he was talking to.

Anthony, according to sources, then used another expletive in telling Hardaway he was going to beat him up when they got into the locker room after the game.

Fortunately, there was no fight in the locker room. But Broussard notes that the argument between Carmelo and Hardaway is a microcosm for a Knicks season that has already been filled with “discord, defiance, and doubt.”

“Nobody’s taken a swing at anybody, but there’s a lot of arguing and cursing each other out after games,” a source reportedly told Broussard.

That sounds like it would be pretty typical of any 4-19 team’s locker room — especially one in a pressure-packed market like New York. However, several Knicks players reportedly feel that Anthony is playing selfish basketball and have told him he shoots too much and only plays defense when he feels like it.

Again, most of this sounds par for the course when talking about a team that has grossly underperformed. The Knicks reportedly feel that the triangle offense is not working. Given what Phil Jackson said about the team earlier this week, it’s safe to assume he believes the players are the issue and not the system.