Credit: AP Photo/Mary Altaffer
I don’t want to say never, but it is EXTREMELY rare for me to boo my own team, which is far from what I could say about most fans in the Garden this season. I believe fans have the right to if they bought their tickets to attend, but it’s just not me (unless it’s for Tiki Barber returning to Giants Stadium for something). That said, I did not boo the Knicks during the Milwaukee game Friday night, I just left at the end of the third quarter.
The expectations of this team were clearly placed too high for the way it is currently constituted. And I’m not referring to the talent on this team. I believe Melo and STAT can play together, I believe Chandler’s defensive prowess should improve their overall team game, especially now with the passionate defense I didn’t see coming from Shumpert (if he can control his shot selection consistently and keep making steals and diving on the floor). It’s almost impossible for me to even fathom how a team of professional players can look this abysmal. They were dominated by a 4 – 7 Bucks team from MILWAUKEE that hasn’t won a road game all season and was without one of their best players in Stephen Jackson (who shoots up strip clubs as much as three pointers). This is New York City! Recognized around the world as the mecca of basketball! And they let a team from Wisconsin come in and handle them like that? It was embarrassing to sit in the crowd and watch.
A clear sign that D’Antoni needs to go, whether replaced with a premium candidate now or just an interim assistant filling in until the offseason, came in the second half last night. Down ten in the third quarter with 6:41 to go they called a time out. When D’Antoni came out to talk to the team they all walked passed and sat on the bench. Then it happened again at the next time out…and again.
I can’t imagine that if you took any ten nab players, even Division I college players, in the off season for a pick up game, those teams would look more organized than this Knicks team. This team looks uninspired, lazy and unorganized. It doesn’t look like there are any plays being run. The players are either standing still or running around aimlessly like a bunch of 14 year old rec league players with low basketball IQs.
One of the first things you learn about basketball is to not catch the ball where you can’t score. Why does Tyson Chandler end up with the ball a foot behind the three point line on every third possession? He’s not an offensive threat by any means and especially not there. They need to keep him in the low post and let Amare run pick and rolls with Anthony so they’re both involved in the offense and can get into a rhythm together. Anthony has been resorting back to his ball stopper days where on some plays he brings the ball up and no one else even touches it before he jacks up a shot. Stoudemire is getting greedy when he does get the ball and is taking poor shots that he’s trying to add to his arsenal, but aren’t quite ready for game time action.
D’Antoni’s system has proven not to work here for sustained success, post-season success or even beating average teams. Now he’s lost the players and it’s showing on the floor, there is no reason for him to still be standing on the sidelines for the Knicks.
Todd Giannattasio is a guest blogger for New York State Of Sports. Todd also contributes simple recipes for guys at Easy Recipes For Beginners. You can follow him on Twitter@Tresnic.
