Marc Berman of the New York Post thinks Carmelo Anthony sitting out last night against the Miami Heat wasn’t the “move of a leader.”

Carmelo Anthony has a sore wrist, ankle and thumb, and yesterday morning he came down with a case of The LeBron Flu.

No, Marc, he has a bum wrist, ankle and thumb.

With the Knicks’ nationally televised game against LeBron James and the Heat looming last night, with the likes of Alex Rodriguez and Isiah Thomas in front-row seats, Anthony bailed out. He decided to shut it down, spent the entirety of the Knicks’ 99-89 loss in the locker room receiving treatment, and he also will miss tonight’s game in Houston.

Berman thinks Carmelo should have played with his bum wrist, ankle and thumb because Alex Rodriguez was there watching the “marquee” game.

If Anthony truly felt he couldn’t help the team in any capacity last night, I’d commend him for being a team player. But more likely Anthony felt he couldn’t help the image of Melo The Superstar.

Wait, what?

Had he played, Anthony knew he would have had to take on a complementary role, take much fewer shots, be a decoy, concentrate on defense and rebounding. He couldn’t bear to do it while his archrivals and compadres James and Dwyane Wade were soaring through the air for dunks and reverse layups as the electric duo did most of the night at AmericanAirlines Arena in Miami’s victory.

Wasn’t it reported early in the day that Dwayne Wade wasn’t going to play last night? Then he changed his mind. Carmelo Anthony is scared, people! He’s a wimp! He won’t play against Lebron and Wade!!!

No matter Anthony’s comments yesterday to explain his decision to not play, the choice was more about him than about his team.

That Carmelo Anthony is so selfish. He actually wants to get healthy instead of dragging his team down with his poor shooting. Poor shooting that is caused by his injuries!

After a full day off Thursday in the Miami sunshine, Anthony had a sore ankle, sore wrist, sore thumb and sore ego. Sitting out for two games isn’t a bad idea, but he could have waited for tonight in Houston and Tuesday against the Pistons at the Garden. He at least could have tried to slow down the rampaging James.

Yes, Carmelo should have risked further injury to slow down Lebron James. I feel like I’m losing brain cells reading this article.

Anthony is shooting 39.4 percent, and 34.4 percent in his last nine games. But the night in Charlotte when he posted his career-low one point while going 0 for 7, the Knicks moved the ball and their offense flourished. Anthony focused on passing and rebounding (he had 11 boards) and teammates and D’Antoni praised him for the part he played.

Anthony wanted nothing to do with a minor role again, not against James and the Heat.

Right. I’m sure Anthony thought to himself, “Sh*t, what if I can’t score again? What if the Heat hold me to one point like Charlotte – one of the worst teams in the league did!? I can’t risk that! I’m going to sit out instead.”

Instead, he let Bill Walker, who was scorched by James much of the night, handle that chore. If Anthony weren’t going to be the star, he didn’t seem to want any part of the game, and the high-flying Heat dunked their way to victory with countless highlight-reel moments.

Anthony should be back Tuesday at the Garden against the Pistons, a club the Knicks surely could beat without him.

Hey Carmelo, you need to schedule your days off according to the opponents’ record. You can only sit when your team plays other crappy teams! You cannot sit against the likes of Lebron or Kobe! And you really can’t sit out when A-Rod is in the crowd. HOW DARE YOU MELO!!

“It was hard to stay positive after I was trying to hide it and fight it, but there’s only so much fight,’’ Anthony said. “It was one injury after another. My ankle wasn’t getting any better. My wrist wasn’t getting any better. You guys were watching the games. I wasn’t myself. I didn’t look like myself. So we came to this decision.”

He’s so selfish! What a jerk.

When James heard the news he wouldn’t be facing Anthony, he was disappointed.

“It’s like playing the Lakers when Kobe’s not playing,” James said.

Kobe Bryant, dealing with his own knee and wrist issues, would have played last night under similar circumstances, then sat in his team’s next game. The great ones play through these kinds of ailments on big nights. It is what makes them great.

Big nights? It’s late January, not the playoffs Berman.

“[Anthony] feels [he’s hurting the team],’’ D’Antoni said, giving Anthony the benefit of the doubt. “He can’t make a shot. He’s playing through a lot of pain and it’s not going away. We got to have him 100 percent.’’

Before the road trip, the issue was discussed.

“My inclination is we need him,’’ D’Antoni said. “That’s where I am. The medical staff thought maybe we can get through it. We tried the best we could. It didn’t work.’’

Carmelo is a wimp!

Anthony should have swallowed his pride and tried to be a role player for one more night against Miami. That would have been the act of a true team player.

So in conclusion, Carmelo Anthony should have played last night because it was “big game” in January and playing a big game in January is the act of a true team player…And Marc Berman is a dunce.

So the Knicks were without Melo tonight – and honestly without Amar’e Stoudemire even though he ended the night with 12 points; Dwayne Wade was back for Miami and yet they only lost by ten points.

Come on, admit it, you were expecting the Heat to win by 50 tonight – most people were.

Here’s the breakdown:

• The Knicks shot a lot of threes (18-43 41.8%) From ESPN Game HQ: Of New York’s first 33 shots, 19 were from 3-point range. That’s right: The Knicks had exactly two 2-pointers in the first 15-plus minutes. Over a stretch of nearly 6 minutes in the first half, the Knicks had 13 consecutive 3-point attempts, nothing inside the arc.
• The Heat dominated the paint – they had five slam dunks in their first seven field goals
• Bill Walker led the Knicks with 21 points (7-10 3FG)
• Amar’e Stoudemire scored his 12 points on 5-14 shooting from the floor – he was 2-2 from the line
• Dwayne Wade was the difference maker in this game. He scored 28 points on 11-19 shooting and he was 6-6 from the line.
• Lebron James led the Heat with 31 points on 11-18 shooting. He was 9-10 from the free throw line.

Next up for the reeling Knicks who have dropped seven of their last eight, is another Melo-less night, this time against the Houston Rockets. I don’t want to be a pessimist but the Rockets are 11-8, the Knicks are 7-12 and well, yeah, they have no shot.

It’s been nearly seventeen years since John Starks’ abysmal shooting performance in Game 7 of the 1994 NBA Finals and yet he has been brought up a couple of times following the Dallas Mavericks’ Championship victory last night.

Charles Barkley brought up Starks when talking about Lebron James’s performance in the finals. It seemed as if James didn’t want to step up and try to win the game last night. Barkley mentioned how he didn’t think James took enough shots and mentioned how Starks – even though he was missing everything he was throwing up in the air – still tried to make the big shot. He said, “Always respected Starks [for continuing to shoot], he was like 1-for-15, what do want him to do, go for 1-for-7?” No Charles, Starks was 2 for 18 that night – 0 for 11 from three point land.

That made me sad.

Then this afternoon, newspaper columnist and author Ian O’Connor tweeted:

If Patrick Ewing had a Jason Terry instead of a John Starks, the Knicks’ current title drought would date back to 1994.

Poor John Starks. His legacy is that he couldn’t hit the broadside of a barn on June 22, 1994.

This story first ran on the Aerys Kitchen Sink site on May 31, 2011

INCONCEIVABLE!

Since the whole world seems to be against Lebron James and his Miami Heat teammates, this New York Knicks fan is going to do the unimaginable and will cheer them on in the NBA Finals.

Pick your jaws up off the floor. I know, I know…I’m supposed to hate Lebron James.

I’m supposed to call him Lebrick – even though he’s one of the best players in the NBA.

I’m supposed to wish ill against the Big Three because they celebrate too much – their pre-season coming out party, complete with pyrotechnics, rivaled other teams’ championship celebrations.

I’m supposed to be outraged because Lebron James and Dwayne Wade cried when the Heat beat the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

THEY CRIED!!!!! THEY ACTED LIKE THEY WON THE CHAMPIONSHIP AFTER BEATING SOMEONE IN THE CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS! HOW DARE THEY!!!!!

ACT LIKE YOU’VE BEEN THERE!!!

I don’t know what it is about Lebron James that makes me not hate him. And believe me, I’ve wanted to.

I thought his “Decision” was an over the top, ridiculous display of ego. I was also really pissed off because my Knicks had no chance of landing him.

I know Lebron says really stupid things but so do others in the sports world – Hello, A-Rod pre 2009? – no one’s perfect.

Even the haters cannot deny that Lebron James is an incredible basketball player – just look at what he did in the closing minutes of the Eastern Conference Finals’ clinching game.

So go on and hate him, tweet “I love Dirk!” and “Go Mavs!”, pray for the Miami Heat to fail miserably, make a Lebron James voodoo doll, or jump on that Dallas Mavericks bandwagon with the people in Texas who normally don’t care about basketball but want to scream about something.

I will choose to be bold – or maybe a little idiotic – and I will be rooting for the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals.

As of this posting, the Miami Heat have taken a 1-0 series lead in the Best of Seven NBA Finals over the Dallas Mavericks