LOS ANGELES — Jose Calderon can’t say for certain if he’ll be a Knick next season, but he guaranteed he’ll play for the Spanish National Team in this summer’s Olympics as it vies to be the biggest obstacle to Team USA’s bid for a gold medal.
Spain has played in the gold-medal game two straight Olympics with Calderon manning the point. And that’s where the classy 34-year-old has been most appreciated.
“I want to be there,’’ said Calderon, a scapegoat of Knicks fans and the media for this 28-40 season. “It will be my fourth Olympics. I don’t know if I’ll have a chance to play more. I think four is a good number. After 16 years on the national team, I’m not going to get to 2020. It’s a little bit too far for me.”
Calderon was Sunday’s hero at Staples Center, hitting the buzzer-beating, game-winning 3-pointer to beat Kobe Bryant’s Lakers, 90-87. It was an odd reaction, however. Calderon remained emotionless after sinking the shot, and his teammates didn’t mob him. Calderon cryptically declined to say what he was thinking.
Bryant paid homage to Calderon afterward, chatting with him in Spanish, telling him he hopes Spain makes it again to the finals.
“People don’t realize when we play in the national team and the respect they got for us, and we gained a little bit of respect in the league as well,’’ Calderon said.
A proud man, Calderon has taken undue blame for the Knicks’ poor perimeter defense. Calderon looked distraught heading to the team bus after Friday’s loss to the Clippers, when he was charged with a bogus charging call in the fourth quarter and went on a tirade against the referees.
On Friday, Knicks president Phil Jackson said Calderon is “at the end of his career,’’ and it’s unclear if the Spaniard still wants to be with the Knicks to collect the criticism.
Calderon has one year left on his pact, worth $7.6 million. At this stage, he’d be better suited as a full-time backup next season, but he showed he can have ice in his veins, logging one more late game-winning shot this season than Carmelo Anthony. The Knicks could use a stretch provision and save $5 million in cap space, but they could do a lot worse than Calderon as a backup point guard.
Leave it to Warriors coach Steve Kerr to defend Jackson on his silly Feb. 29 tweet comparing Stephen Curry, who faces the Knicks on Wednesday, and career underachiever Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, formerly Chris Jackson. The Knicks president took flak for tweeting: “Never seen anything like SCurry? Remind you of Chris Jackson/ Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, who had a short but brilliant run in NBA.’’
Kerr claims he’s thought the same thing.
“I actually made the same comparison to the ABC guys the other day,’’ Kerr said. “I got interviewed before the game — ‘Who does he remind you of?’ [I said] a little bit Mark Price, a little bit Steve Nash, a little bit Abdul-Rauf. Take that and multiply it.”
In the initial Knicks meeting on Feb. 1, Curry was held to just 13 points and suffered a bloody scratch on his forehead, courtesy of Anthony cupping his hand there as part of his defensive posture. Curry told SI recently he was angered about it.
“I was kinda mad about it actually,’’ Curry said. “I was going to complain to him, in the tunnel. I was going to be like, ‘Hey, look what you did to my face.’ ”
According to SI, Curry dropped his anger when he bumped into Anthony and his 8-year-old son, Kiyan, who gave the Warriors superstar a woodcut bust of his likeness made in shop class.