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Adam Zagoria covers basketball at all levels. He is the author of two books and an award-winning journalist whose articles have appeared in ESPN The Magazine, SLAM, Sheridan Hoops, Sports Illustrated, Basketball Times and in newspapers nationwide.
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Wednesday / December 11.
  • http://web.sny.tv/media/video.jsp?content_id=25551285


    NEW YORK — Carmelo Anthony
    says he “definitely hurt” his team by getting suspended.

    And he didn’t help them much for about three quarters in his return, either.

    Saying he was “a little under the weather” in his return Friday, Anthony scored 29 of his game-high 39 points in the second half but it was to little, too late as the Knicks dropped their third straight game and their third straight this season to the Chicago Bulls, 108-101, at Madison Square Garden.

    “Today was just one of them days where we’re trying to find the energy, build up some momentum going into the game,” said Anthony, who went 1-of-8 for four points in the first quarter as the Knicks got behind quickly, 29-18.

    At this point, the conventional wisdom is that Andrew Wiggins will either join Kentucky’s already -loaded 2013 recruiting class or join his best friend, Xavier Rathan-Mayes, at his parents’ alma mater, Florida State.

    But don’t count out North Carolina.

    According to Grant Traylor, the Herald-Dispatch beat writer for Huntington Prep, Carolina coach Roy Williams has been the most visible head man in Huntington this season.

    “There is no one who has been more visible in Huntington than Williams, whose first order of business after surgery to remove benign tumors from his kidneys was to visit Wiggins at the Marshall Rec Center on Oct. 23,” Traylor wrote in this piece on Wiggins.

    We’ll probably never know what Kevin Garnett said to Carmelo Anthony Monday night, but Doc Rivers flatly denies the Cheerios comment.

    “I know what’s being reported did not happen,” the Celtics coach said Thursday on WEEI radio in Boston. “I know that as a fact.”

    Anthony, who was suspended for last night’s 81-76 loss at Indiana, declined to spell out exactly what KG said during Monday’s game.

    “There’s certain things that you just don’t say to men, another man,” he said.

    Andrew Wiggins, Jabari Parker and Julius Randle are among the high school stars expected to compete in the Jordan Brand Classic April 13 at the Barclays Center.

    Tickets go on sale today (Friday) at 10 a.m. on Ticketmaster.

    The 6-foot-8 Parker recently pledged to Duke, while the 6-8 Wiggins and the 6-9 Randle remain uncommitted and will sign during the NCAA late signing period beginning April 17.

    Wiggins is considering Kentucky, Florida State, Kansas and North Carolina, while Randle is down to Kentucky, Kansas, Florida, N.C. State, Oklahoma and Texas.

    Pope John XXIII High School (Sparta, N.J.) will host the first annual Living Hope Festival to Benefit Cancer Research this weekend, but star forward Jermaine Lawrence won’t be able to compete.

    The 6-foot-10 Lawrence — who is considering Cincinnati, St. John’s and UNLV and will sign in the spring — was not cleared by doctors this week after undergoing surgery on his hand and could miss another two weeks.

    “Right now it’s just kind of day-to-day,” Pope John coach Jason Hasson told SNY.tv Thursday.

    “He’s seeing the trainer right now and it’s probably going to be another week or so, maybe two. But we’re not going to do anything to jeopardize his career, or his future. He’ll be back when he’s ready.”

    Here’s a few quick notes and quotes off today’s initial Big East conference call.

    **UConn coach Kevin Ollie, who has recently been spotted watching some extremely big fish, like 2014 big man Jahlil Okafor of Chicago, says his five-year extension helps him in recruiting.

    “It’s helping out,” he said. “Of course it takes a question off the table that a lot of parents and a lot of players and whoever’s involved in the recruitment is going to have, is the coach going to be there?

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