WEST POINT, N.Y. -- Carmelo Anthony was in the stands at Yankee Stadium on Thursday when Derek Jeter knocked in the game-winning run in his final at-bat wearing pinstripes.

“He kind of gave me some chills. The way it ended, [he’s such] a class act, nobody could have written that ending for him,” Anthony said at the first day of New York Knicks training camp on Tuesday. “For me to be there and just to see that, I was kind of taking that all in. It was a great moment for him, and for me to just be a part of that and watch that.”

Anthony looks at Jeter as a “mentor” and says the Yankees shortstop talked to him about dealing with the “ins and outs” of being a high-profile athlete in New York City.

“Last year we talked during the season. When we see [each] other, we talk,” Anthony said. “We don’t always sit down and talk about what it takes to be an athlete in New York. We have more conversations than that. But for the most part, he is a guy that I really listen to when he talks because he gets it.

“He is one of the few guys who was able to have a long stint here and be successful here. So you got to pay your respects to that, so when you talk you got to sit and listen and really take heed to what he is saying.”

Jeter is the archetype for big-name athletes in New York. He has had a ton of success and has managed to largely keep his off-field habits out of the public eye.

Anthony has largely handled the spotlight of being the face of the Knicks with ease. There were times when he seemed to be bothered by the media focus, but he has never expressed it outwardly and never seemed to let it affect his performance. Maybe that can be attributed to influence from Jeter?

“I tip my hat to him. I know that’s kind of cliché, but I tip my hat to him,” Anthony said. “Just to know the career he had here in New York. How he was able to withstand everything that comes along with playing in New York. The way he did it. There was so much class that he did it [with]. And for me to be just kind of a student of his and him being kind of a mentor to me and kind of talking to me about the ins and outs of New York. You can’t get another or a better guy to sit down and give you advice on that.”

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