Carmelo Anthony was ejected from the Knicks' loss to the Hawks after hitting Thabo Sefolosha in the head while the two were entangled in the paint.

Anthony was whistled for a flagrant foul 2, which resulted in an automatic ejection.

"He punched me," Sefolosha said after the game. "That was a fist right in my face."

Anthony did not address the media after the game. Anthony now has two ejections this season.

Phil Jackson and Jeanie Buss have ended their four-year engagement.

Jackson posted a joint statement to Twitter on Tuesday night.

"With mutual love and respect, we have decided to end our engagement," the statement began. "With the nature of our professional obligations and the geographic distance between us, sustaining the relationship has been difficult. We have shared many wonderful moments through the years, and we expect to remain supportive of each other."

Buss later tweeted from her account: "Nothing but love and respect for this man."

In a follow-up tweet, Buss wrote, "The love of my life is the Los Angeles Lakers. I love Phil & will always. It's not fair to him or Lakers to not have my undivided attention."

Jackson and Buss began dating in 1999.

An NBA official acknowledged in March 2014 that the league had put parameters in place to make sure the high-profile relationship didn't create any issues.

"The Knicks' hiring of Phil Jackson is subject to the league's conflict of interest rules," NBA spokesman Mike Bass told ESPN.com at the time. "To avoid even the appearance of a conflict, we have addressed the issue with the Knicks and Lakers to ensure that the relationship between Jeanie Buss and Phil Jackson will not affect how the teams operate."

Carmelo Anthony decided not to engage negatively with comments made by George Karl in his new book.

Anthony said he was pleased that former Nuggets teammates J.R. Smith and Kenyon Martin defended him in the wake of Karl's assertions in his book, "Furious George," that Anthony is selfish and a "user" and that he played with a lack of commitment on defense.

"It's irrelevant to me. It's irrelevant at this point," Anthony said. "The truth of the matter is everybody else is kind of speaking up for me from their own experience. So I really don't have to speak on it."

Anthony said he wasn't disappointed by Karl's remarks.

"I just hope that he finds happiness in what he's doing. His book, hopefully, will bring him happiness," Anthony said.

"I'm past being disappointed," he said.

Karl coached Anthony in Denver from January 2005 to February 2011.

"Carmelo was a true conundrum for me in the six years I had him," Karl wrote in the book. "He was the best offensive player I ever coached. He was also a user of people, addicted to the spotlight and very unhappy when he had to share it.

"He really lit my fuse with his low demand of himself on defense. He had no commitment to the hard, dirty work of stopping the other guy."

Jeff Hornacek admits he may have underestimated the impact of Derrick Rose as Brandon Jennings doesn't command the same attention of defenses.

“It sure looked like it. Brandon has the ability to drive in there too,” the coach said. “But I think Derrick’s finishes really draws guys into the lane. And then we’re able to kick out from that. Brandon will dribble around and throw it out to somebody. But I’m not sure other teams are as concerned with Brandon finishing at the basket as they are with Derrick.”

Rose has missed three out of the past five games with a back problem.

“(Rose) is obviously an important piece that we need and not having him out there is obviously not good for us,” Kristaps Porzingis said. “We want him to get healthy first and make sure he’s 100 percent then he’ll get back on the court.”

Phil Jackson intends to finish the two seasons remaining on his deal with the New York Knicks.

Jackson and the Knicks each have an opt-out clause in 2017 but he has interest in a new deal that starts in 2019. Jackson has been linked to a return to the Los Angeles Lakers but that scenario currently appears unlikely.

Jackson has reportedly found a level of comfort with his Knicks' job. Jackson was hired by the Knicks in 2014 on a five-year, $60 million deal.

The future of the Knicks remains uncertain as they navigate building around Kristaps Porzingis long-term and try to win in the short-term with Carmelo Anthony.

The Los Angeles Lakers hosted Kristaps Porzingis for a private workout before the 2015 NBA Draft but applied an old school structure in which it was "essentially a challenge of his manhood rather than a validation of his gifts."

The Lakers wanted to test the physicality of Porzingis and his "bigness" in that workout. Mark Madsen, notorious for physical play in his NBA career, was pushed on Porzingis in the workout. 

Byron Scott kidded Lakers' staffers that he better get an extension on his contract if the Lakers decided to draft Porzingis and wait for him to grow.

Andy Miller, agent for Porzingis, did not expect or approve of a workout with so much physicality. 

The Lakers then locked in on D'Angelo Russell following the results of the workout and Porzingis fell to the New York Knicks at No. 4.

"The Lakers are a great organization," Porzingis said late Sunday night of his favorite team growing up. "But I'm happy where I am."

Phil Jackson said Carmelo Anthony can play the "role that Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant played" in their teams' triangle offenses, but he believes that Anthony sometimes breaks a team rule by holding on to the ball for too long.

"Carmelo a lot of times wants to hold the ball longer than -- we have a rule: If you hold a pass two seconds, you benefit the defense. So he has a little bit of a tendency to hold it for three, four, five seconds, and then everybody comes to a stop," Jackson said in an interview with CBS Sports Network that aired Tuesday. "That is one of the things we work with. But he's adjusted to [the triangle], he knows what he can do and he's willing to see its success."

Jackson's comments were prompted by a question about whether Anthony can fit in the triangle offense. Jackson made it clear he believes Anthony can.

"He can play that role that Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant played," Jackson said. "It's a perfect spot for him to be in that isolated position on the weak side, because it's an overload offense and there's a weakside man that always has an advantage if the ball is swung."

LeBron James says he has no interest in discussing Phil Jackson's "posse" comments while he's in town this week to play the New York Knicks.

"No," James said flatly when asked if he'd entertain a conversation with Jackson.

When asked to reflect on the discussion that his response to Jackson prompted, James brought up the racial undertones that he believed were part of Jackson's "posse" characterization.

"Didn't affect me, just know how much further we still have to go and how far we still have to go as African-Americans, even in the light of today," James said. "For me, I've built my career on and off the floor on the utmost respect, and I've always given the utmost respect to everyone -- all my peers, people that's laid the path for me and laid the path for coaches, players, things of that nature.

"I've always given respect to them, and it's always, like I told you before, it's always shade thrown on me, so. It means we got a lot more work to do, myself and the team. We've got to continue to protect each other and continue to just be as great as we can be."

James and business partner Maverick Carter were critical of Jackson's comments when he retold a story about James' days with the Miami Heat.

Derrick Rose has played better than many expected so far with the New York Knicks.

Rose is scheduled to be a free agent this offseason but he has interest in remaining with the Knicks.

"Finding out how we’re going to win games, we got 10 new people on the team—it’s not like they had a foundation here and we came right into it," said Rose. "We’re building the culture. We’re building the foundation now. I’m under a one-year contract so of course I want to play the rest of my life here. But it takes time, it takes patience to figure out how everyone is going to fit, if it is going to fit and going from there."

Rose was also asked about how the Knicks are developing chemistry.

"It’s taking time, man," said Rose. "Everyone is getting comfortable with each other and figure out a new system without making things hard for each other on the floor. Of course, I can’t play the same way I played in Chicago with this team, like coming out and firing right away. I’ll look dumb shooting all those shots I shot in Chicago with this team and with the talent we have with this team. It’s about being patient, taking our time and letting it all click. At some point in the season, I know I’ll be able to play the way I normally know how to play. First we gotta learn how to win."

Kristaps Porzingis is not paying attention to talk about whether the New York Knicks are his team or Carmelo Anthony's team.

“I don’t really react to it,” Porzingis said Tuesday. “That’s not something I’m worried about. I read social media and Twitter and all that. But a lot of that is just in and out. And I don’t really pay attention to it. It doesn’t really matter. All that really matters is [to] win games. And as long as we’re winning it’s not going to be a debate about whose team is it or whatever. So that’s the main focus.”

Porzingis has said that Anthony helps his production on the court.

Porzingis is averaging 21.4 points, 7.2 rebounds and 1.3 assists this season with a PER of 22.0.