George Karl fired back at Mark Jackson on Thursday after the ESPN analyst seemingly took a shot at him over his coaching.
Jackson was one of the analysts for Game 2 of the first-round playoff series between the Portland Trail Blazers and Los Angeles Lakers. Jackson complimented Carmelo Anthony for the veteran’s defensive effort on LeBron James. Then, Jackson decided to criticize Anthony’s past coaches for not getting enough out of the All-Star on the defensive end.
“People who killed Carmelo Anthony in the past for his defense — they were wrong. This guy is picking up LeBron James full court,” Jackson said.
Jeff Van Gundy disagreed, saying that the past criticism of Anthony was valid and that Carmelo has changed. That led Jackson to change his argument to blame past coaching.
“Then there’s a shared responsibility for whoever allowed that defense to be played. Because for some reason, he has bought in with this culture, and he is committed to it. This is energy and effort,” Jackson said.
Karl coached the Denver Nuggets from 2005-2013. Anthony played for him for five and a half of those seasons before being traded to the Knicks.
Karl took offense to Jackson’s comments and fired back at him, comparing their respective legacies. Karl also jabbed Jackson over the Warriors becoming a dynasty after the coach was replaced by Steve Kerr.
Van Gundy is correct — Anthony generally did not give a good enough effort on defense in the past. Being in the playoffs and facing the challenge of LeBron James may be bringing out the best in him. That still doesn’t change his poor defense in the past. Karl’s coaching resume also blows away Jackson’s, but that doesn’t mean Jackson doesn’t have a right to criticize in his analysis.
Keep in mind that Karl and Anthony long had issues.
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