EnySpree - I'm sticking with coach as well.
October 4
"The Knicks will be on a Western trip in late November, and Harrington has looked into renting a house in Denver for a team meal on Thanksgiving. His plan is for a couple of the players’ mothers to help with the meal, and for the players to watch a lot of football and bond.
“Because if we love each other off the court, we ain’t got no choice but to love each other on the court, and we’ll have each other’s backs,” Harrington said."
December 8
"NEW YORK -- The results say it started on Dec. 1, when the Knicks handed the Phoenix Suns a stunning 27-point loss at Madison Square Garden. But the genesis of this small ray of light actually began on Thanksgiving.
In Denver for the holiday, the Knicks’ players gathered in a restaurant at the Ritz Carlton. It wasn’t meant to be a team powwow, just a chance to get some decent food.
“The Thanksgiving meal they made for us wasn’t that good,’’ Chris Duhon said. “So we had to go somewhere else.’’
But the quest for food turned into an exercise in chemistry building, as the players watched football, talked trash, played cards, and rapped about having fun on the basketball court. No coaches were present. The Knicks lost their next two games, but gained confidence after playing well against contenders Denver and Orlando.
Then they won four of their next five games, including Monday’s 93-84 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers that pushed their season-long win streak to three.
“It really started in Denver," said Duhon, who had a game-high nine assists against Portland. “We sat down as a team, by ourselves, and got a lot of things off our chests. We talked about what we need to do to win, about being more relaxed. It was the first time in my two years here that we did something as a team where all the players were together.’’
Call it a corny “kumbaya" moment if you like, but among the Knicks’ four victims are three likely playoff teams -- Phoenix, Atlanta and Portland. And while the Knicks are far from a defensive juggernaut, they are actually playing decent defense, having held three of their four victims under 100 points.
“We can be really good now that we’re thinking defense,’’ Duhon said.
- Chris Broussard
12/8/2009 6:39 PM
