From a fan point of view it certainly looks like the Knicks erm "didn't play as well" as they could in hopes of a head coaching change. This is certainly an extreme thing to say and most likely might not have been the case at all but several reports came out that the Knick's players where "tuning" out D'Antoni. But there is no way that someone can say these new 5-0 Knicks san-D'Antoni don't look completely different than the Knicks who had lost 6 in a row before D'Antoni "left."
Many fans have preached that it's been all D'Antoni and they mention how well the defense has played; I see something more than just "better defense" though, these new Knicks are playing with more energy, more fire and look like they actually care about "winning." Lets not forget though, that these are the Knicks and by this time next month we could be talking about a 5 game losing streak that kept them from making the post-season, I do know something though every time these new Knicks win a game another item is being broken in the D'Antoni household.
I definitely feel that Melo and Amare went through the motions while D'Antoni was the coach. All of a sudden, both are playing with more urgency on the defensive end of the floor. Defensive is played with your feet and your heart. There was no heart with Melo and Amare while D'Antoni was there. Says a lot about what type of players they are.
ReplyDeleteWhat's interesting is that everyone sees what you see, but you can't write a story about that unless you have facts to back it up. Nobody is saying on the record that they tanked in an effort to get D'Antoni fired, even though the difference between their play - as a team, and individually - before and after D'Antoni's resignation is eye-opening. That being said, you need more than observation for a newspaper story, an obstacle that's typically too steep to climb for a story such as thing. Look for a newspaper story about this topic and you'll see what I'm referring: they're few and far in between.
ReplyDeletei think that the players didnt have a good relationship with dantoni in the first place,and were unable to express the way they felt in certain instances. i think dantoni ran the team as if he was a tyrant. and woodson is a "players coach",he's been in their shoes before
ReplyDeleteD'Antoni is a coach who is stuck in doing things his way with no compromise, so i wouldnt rule it out
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