New York Knicks star forward Carmelo Anthony is downplaying his in-game screaming match with beleaguered second-year guard Iman Shumpert during the team's 103-99 loss to New Orleans on Sunday.
With the Knicks in the midst of their ninth straight loss and seventh in a row at Madison Square Garden, Anthony and Shumpert got into a shouting match during a third quarter timeout that SlamOnline.com reports was prompted by yet another blown defensive assignment.
Anthony declined to talk with reporters about the spat with Shumpert after the game and the former Georgia Tech star was sure to say all the right things as he talked about not returning to the game for the pivotal fourth quarter. Shumpert is believed to be on the trading block.
"Of course I wanted to play," Shumpert told Slam of his benching, while also deeming the the flare up with Anthony simply "a miscommunication. "Tim [Hardaway] was making shots, J.R. [Smith] had it rolling. We were just trying to get a win."
Indeed, clouding Shumpert's New York future all the more is the emergence of hot-shot rookie Hardaway. Against the Pelicans, Hardaway scored a career-high 21 points and is now averaging 7.3 points per game in just 15 minutes.
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