A video clip from the New York Knicks’ home loss to the Orlando Magic on Monday night is going viral and seems to show coach Jeff Hornacek getting frustrated with one of Carmelo Anthony’s decision.
During the third quarter of the game, ‘Melo waved off his teammates and called an isolation play for himself. As MSG pointed out, Hornacek, seen in the top left corner in the video, seemed to get frustrated as he turned his back after Anthony brushed aside his teammates.
Melo calls his own number…
Jeff Hornacek (upper left hand corner of the video) seems annoyed and turns his back and walks away… pic.twitter.com/TOSDqb2CPV
— Tommy Beer (@TommyBeer) January 3, 2017
Anthony is certainly a fantastic offensive weapon, but people have long criticized him for being a ball-stopper because of all his isolation plays. It didn’t help that he was having an off game going 6-for-17 shooting for just 19 points and a team-worst negative 14 plus/minus rating for the game.
Whether Hornacek’s reaction was to ‘Melo calling his own number is debatable, but what’s not is that Hornacek was definitely frustrated after the loss. He openly ripped the team’s defense after the game and wondered whether his squad could even defend.
Anthony wasn’t exactly stellar on that end against Orlando, either.
Interestingly, MSG broadcast brought attention to Melo's defense/effort on multiple occasions in the blowout loss to Orlando… pic.twitter.com/HMnRYgM2hT
— Tommy Beer (@TommyBeer) January 3, 2017
Hornacek recently backed Anthony publicly when his star player faced criticism from George Karl, but these few things make you wonder whether he’s also privately frustrated with the forward.
