Carmelo Anthony Before Facing Knicks: 'You Watched Me Walk Through Hell'
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Hours before his new team faces his old one, Carmelo Anthony implied on Instagram that the end of his tenure with the Knicks was "Hell."
Anthony posted a photo of himself Thursday in an Oklahoma City Thunder jersey with the caption: "You Watched Me Walk Through Hell, Now Watch Me Walk Up Out It."
The line is borrowed from the Pusha T and Beanie Sigel song "Keep Dealing."
In the season opener for both teams, the Knicks and Thunder square off Thursday night in Oklahoma City. Anthony, who was traded to the Thunder last month, spent the past six-plus seasons with the Knicks -- with then-team president Phil Jackson trying to trade him for much of the final one.
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Anthony said he won't consider his Knicks chapter officially closed until after Thursday's game.
He told The New York Times the constant trade speculation last season and public criticism, some of it from Jackson himself, made it difficult for him to enjoy the game.
He said he and Jackson spoke "maybe twice" the entire season.
"I was being pushed out," he said. "There were things being said about me that I didn't know where they were coming from. And I still had to go in that gym and play and practice and deal with the media, answer all those questions every day."
But he insisted he holds no grudge against the Knicks.