I said earlier that I think one of the behind the scenes things for this season to look for was the Woodson/D'Antoni dynamic.

I don't think D'Antoni wanted to hire Woodson, I think Woodson was *strongly* suggested to him.

This is gonna get ugly.

crzymdups wrote:D'Antoni is trying to blame Woodson for the loss.

I said earlier that I think one of the behind the scenes things for this season to look for was the Woodson/D'Antoni dynamic.

I don't think D'Antoni wanted to hire Woodson, I think Woodson was *strongly* suggested to him.

This is gonna get ugly.

Could see a mid season switch to Woodson, if things don't improve soon. Hoping this is just like last season, when they started 3-8 only to win 13 of 14. Time will tell...

Childs2Dudley wrote:D'Antoni's version of good defense is keeping a team under 110 pts so of course he is upset.

haha. touche.

but it was also in the way he complimented Diaw so highly. i think D'Antoni is happy to be able to shovel the defensive blame off on Woodson.

nixluva wrote:So MDA never said anything about Woodson but HATERZ have to invent crap so that there's some controversy. MDA has tried to make this Woodson thing a non issue by saying he's here for more than just coaching D. He was trying to take the pressure off of Woodson, not scapegoat him!!!

Before this game we had seen better defense from this team. One game doesn't make a trend. D'Antoni and the Staff have work to do, that's all. They need to keep working on it until the team gets it.

uh, where did we see better defense?

and i am not a hater, i am just calling it like i see it. i've supported d'antoni, but this team is making the SAME mistakes and horrible plays and horrible shot selection that EVERY d'antoni team in NY has made. at some point you have to realize HE is part of the problem. he's not all of it, but he's a BIG part of it.

and if you think him calling out the defense and smiling is not him calling out woodson, i don't know what to tell ya

crzymdups wrote:D'Antoni is trying to blame Woodson for the loss.

I said earlier that I think one of the behind the scenes things for this season to look for was the Woodson/D'Antoni dynamic.

I don't think D'Antoni wanted to hire Woodson, I think Woodson was *strongly* suggested to him.

This is gonna get ugly.

You know more than most. Its like you have a portal into his mind!

ChuckBuck wrote: D'Antoni has to change up or adjust in game better defensively, and stop worrying about offensive "flow".

Bingo and that will never happen because MDA knows nothing about in-game defensive adjustments

I've seen several times when STAT would help on the dribble drive, just to recover too slow back to his man for an open shot.

If you are not athletic enough to play help defense, and play defense on your man, you need to stop helping.

This team needs to play more zone defense.....Shump is the only athletic guard that can play multiple positions, so he can switch on those pick and rolls. Douglas needs to stop switching and just anticipate those picks. Fight over the pick and make the ref blow the whistle.

blkexec wrote:Believe it or not, but this team is not athletic enough to play lock down defense. We have the best offensive weapons at several positions, but lack the lateral quickness at almost all positions. And we are too quick to switch.

I've seen several times when STAT would help on the dribble drive, just to recover too slow back to his man for an open shot.

If you are not athletic enough to play help defense, and play defense on your man, you need to stop helping.

This team needs to play more zone defense.....Shump is the only athletic guard that can play multiple positions, so he can switch on those pick and rolls. Douglas needs to stop switching and just anticipate those picks. Fight over the pick and make the ref blow the whistle.

Yea that's what I see too. I've been disappointed with TD's defense since last year as it seemed like he wasn't fighting over picks and was getting beat far more frequesntly. I just chalked it up to him being hurt, but it's still happening. He's just not doing a good job of getting over the screens and keeping his spacing so that he can cut off penetration.

STAT is just a mess on team D. He's got to get his act together cuz he's always out of place and late to recover. The worst thing he does is when he just lets a guy drive to the basket, stepping away from the play.

Fields has also been exposed on the perimeter. Guys are just blowing by him. I think he also needs to back off his man just a bit so that he's got the right spacing and can use angles to cut off his man from penetrating. He's often too close and gets burned.

I can't believe i'm looking forward to getting Jared back. People make fun of him but he's a good team defender. He moves his feet on help and recovers.

Why now?