NBA Insider with Ken Berger

Just got back from the Nuggets’ shootaround at the Garden, where George Karl couldn’t hide his disdain for Isiah Thomas no matter how hard he tried.

It’s going to be an interesting tilt tonight to say the last. In case you haven’t heard, it’s Denver’s first game in the Garden since the brawl between the teams last December. Let’s get right to the Nuggets’ comments, which should be plenty to carry you to tipoff.

Karl was asked how offended he was by Thomas’ assertion after the game that Karl shouldn’t have left his starters on the floor in a 19-point game with less than two minutes left. (Considering he called Thomas a “jerk” and a “jackass” the day after the game, I couldn’t imagine this line of questioning would go well.)

“I’m not going to even justify an answer, because we were in a state of the season where we were blowing leads,” Karl said. “The history of that team at the moment, we had blown leads, three or four leads – an 11-point lead to Atlanta, at home with eight minutes to go in the game. Even in the stretch of the game, we had blown a lead in that game.

“You have to remember, there was a three- or four-minute stretch where neither team scored. And once we scored, once we got another basket or another two baskets, I was going to sit my guys. But there was a lull in the game. And to project to the public that I was running up the score is, it’s not worthy of my comment.”

I asked George if he’d spoken with Isiah since the incident. (Since they hate each other, I couldn’t imagine he would say yes.)

“No,” Karl said.

Did he plan to talk with the Knicks’ coach before the tip tonight? Karl shook his head. How will he react when he sees Isiah on the floor during warm-ups?

“I will be exactly what I tell my team,” Karl said. “I will be professional.”

In case you want to relive the ugly episode, check out this video link.

Carmelo Anthony, who got a 15-game suspension and a severely damaged reputation for sucker-punching Mardy Collins during the melee, said he’s going to have to deal with the memory every time he comes to New York for the rest of his career.

‘Melo didn’t want to dredge up the comments Isiah made to him that precipitated the brawl. Moments before J.R. Smith drove for a layup that resulted in Collins’ flagrant foul in a 19-point game with 1:15 left, Thomas told Anthony, “Don’t go to the basket right now. Wouldn’t be a good idea.” Anthony said he spoke with Isiah in Las Vegas this summer during the Olympic qualifying tournament, but wouldn’t go into what was said.

“We spoke man-to-man, but there wasn’t any conversation about why he did what he did or what happened or anything like that,” Anthony said.

Smith, who is coming off a three-game suspension from the Nuggets for unrelated off-court transgressions, filled in the blanks.

“After [Anthony] hit Mardy and we were running back, I said, ‘Man, what happened?’” said Smith, sitting about 30 feet from where the whole mess transpired. “And he said, ‘Isiah told him to do that.’”

Asked what Thomas told Anthony, Smith said, “He told him, ‘Don’t go to the basket. Y’all better not go to the basket.’ He probably sent the dogs out there to do that, but that’s how Isiah is. He grew up with the ‘Bad Boys’ playing in Detroit, so he’s a real old-school type of dude. I ain’t got no grief toward him or anything. If that’s the way he is, that’s the way he is. Certain people go about their business certain ways.”

Anthony knows all eyes will be on him and the Nuggets tonight, including those of commissioner David Stern and league disciplinarian Stu Jackson. What happens if there’s another hard foul?

“How will we react?” Anthony said. “Man, look: We wouldn’t react, I’ll tell you that. We’re going to go pick our teammate up and go finish the game. We won’t react like we did last year, I can tell you that.”

Smith, who will return from Karl’s suspension tonight but won’t start, said the team will handle tonight’s game “the same way we always handle it. Go in, get our win, and get out of here.”

Should be an interesting night.