INDIANAPOLIS – This was the same old Knick roster out there, running the same go-go offense and employing the same transition defense. The only change, really, was that certain key members were trying harder for Mike Woodson than they had for Mike D’Antoni, hanging tough down the stretch and making smart, focused decisions.

So once again, the Knicks leave us with a dilemma: Do we praise them for their current effort, for their energy and their three-game winning streak, or do we condemn them for quitting on D’Antoni for no apparent reason other than to get a tired voice out of here?
“On offense, we have a little more post-ups, not a lot more,” Jeremy Lin was saying after the Knicks whipped Indiana, 102-88, Saturday night. “The defense hasn’t changed. We have all 15 guys buying in now. That’s the big difference.”
Close your eyes, and that six-game losing streak never happened. D’Antoni was never here. There was never a mutiny-by-lethargy. All is fine, except we have to be careful, because this team broke New York hearts already once this season, fired a coach and played a game no longer recognizable to anyone as basketball.
They just might do it again. This may only be another streak, a good one, which will be followed by a bad one, which will leave the Knicks smack out of the playoffs. For now, everyone is saying nice things about Woodson, who somehow is supposed to be the anti-D’Antoni. We know from experience the Knicks can turn on him during the next tough losing stretch.
“Everybody knows where the ball is going and guys are playing with tremendous confidence,” Amar’e Stoudemire said. “There are four things the coaches are emphasizing — one, rebound the ball, two, play defense, three, apply ball pressure and four, guard the screen and roll.”
D’Antoni said the same stuff, yet Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony had stopped listening. Against the Pacers, both superstars shot and scored when needed, no more than that. They combined for 21 shots and 32 points. Lin was remarkable once more, inventing creative havoc and lofting those high-arc floaters for 19 points, a team high.
This was not a gimme victory, not like the one last week against the fractured Trail Blazers, and not a first-strike, sneak attack like the victory against Indiana at the Garden Friday night. The Knicks required a full effort from 10 players for 48 minutes.
They got exactly that, winning with sheer energy more than anything else. “We kind of wore them out with our bench,” Lin said. “They’re flying around and it takes a lot out of the other team.”
If you expected to see a more methodical, structured offense from Woodson, it hasn’t happened yet. He mostly yelled at the Knicks to spread out. They sailed for the hoop, stopped an Indiana rally in the fourth quarter that cut the deficit to just three. They carried the night in a difficult arena, against a 25-18 opponent.
The Pacers had done their best to make the Knicks feel at home Carl Erskine, the incomparable Brooklyn Dodger pitcher, played the pregame national anthem on a harmonica. The fans inside the fieldhouse cheered as loudly at first for Lin as for anybody on the Pacers’ less glamorous roster.
It was a homecoming for Woodson, who attended nearby Broad Ripple High. His brothers and sisters, his high school coach, his friends were all at hand to witness this work in progress.
“The beauty about tonight was that we lost our composure, plus probably some bad coaching a little bit, but we were still able to hang in there and our defense brought us right back,” Woodson said.
You can believe the team is out of the woods with the new coach, or you can maintain a healthy, emotional distance from this nutty franchise and wait to see what comes next. There is good reason to believe the Knicks will win several games soon while aspirations grow delusional. Before March is through, they have two games against Toronto, one against Detroit and one vs. Cleveland. In April, however, the schedule has the Knicks at Indiana, at Orlando, home and away vs. the Bulls, plus a big road game at Milwaukee.

By then, Anthony and Stoudemire may have stopped listening to Woodson, started moping again. Funny thing about losing in the NBA. It’s always the coach’s fault.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/basketball/knicks/ny-knicks-putting-effort-interim-coach-mike-woodson-missing-coach-mike-antoni-article-1.1041689#ixzz1pRsA7CxH

We can only hope this is for real and that they will carry this effort all the way thru.

nixluva wrote:It seems we're not the only ones talking about this issue of the miraculous effort on D by STAT and Melo after MDA resigned. It's sort of a cautionary tale about trusting these guys to stay true to this level of effort and cooperation.

INDIANAPOLIS – This was the same old Knick roster out there, running the same go-go offense and employing the same transition defense. The only change, really, was that certain key members were trying harder for Mike Woodson than they had for Mike D’Antoni, hanging tough down the stretch and making smart, focused decisions.

So once again, the Knicks leave us with a dilemma: Do we praise them for their current effort, for their energy and their three-game winning streak, or do we condemn them for quitting on D’Antoni for no apparent reason other than to get a tired voice out of here?
“On offense, we have a little more post-ups, not a lot more,” Jeremy Lin was saying after the Knicks whipped Indiana, 102-88, Saturday night. “The defense hasn’t changed. We have all 15 guys buying in now. That’s the big difference.”
Close your eyes, and that six-game losing streak never happened. D’Antoni was never here. There was never a mutiny-by-lethargy. All is fine, except we have to be careful, because this team broke New York hearts already once this season, fired a coach and played a game no longer recognizable to anyone as basketball.
They just might do it again. This may only be another streak, a good one, which will be followed by a bad one, which will leave the Knicks smack out of the playoffs. For now, everyone is saying nice things about Woodson, who somehow is supposed to be the anti-D’Antoni. We know from experience the Knicks can turn on him during the next tough losing stretch.
“Everybody knows where the ball is going and guys are playing with tremendous confidence,” Amar’e Stoudemire said. “There are four things the coaches are emphasizing — one, rebound the ball, two, play defense, three, apply ball pressure and four, guard the screen and roll.”
D’Antoni said the same stuff, yet Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony had stopped listening. Against the Pacers, both superstars shot and scored when needed, no more than that. They combined for 21 shots and 32 points. Lin was remarkable once more, inventing creative havoc and lofting those high-arc floaters for 19 points, a team high.
This was not a gimme victory, not like the one last week against the fractured Trail Blazers, and not a first-strike, sneak attack like the victory against Indiana at the Garden Friday night. The Knicks required a full effort from 10 players for 48 minutes.
They got exactly that, winning with sheer energy more than anything else. “We kind of wore them out with our bench,” Lin said. “They’re flying around and it takes a lot out of the other team.”
If you expected to see a more methodical, structured offense from Woodson, it hasn’t happened yet. He mostly yelled at the Knicks to spread out. They sailed for the hoop, stopped an Indiana rally in the fourth quarter that cut the deficit to just three. They carried the night in a difficult arena, against a 25-18 opponent.
The Pacers had done their best to make the Knicks feel at home Carl Erskine, the incomparable Brooklyn Dodger pitcher, played the pregame national anthem on a harmonica. The fans inside the fieldhouse cheered as loudly at first for Lin as for anybody on the Pacers’ less glamorous roster.
It was a homecoming for Woodson, who attended nearby Broad Ripple High. His brothers and sisters, his high school coach, his friends were all at hand to witness this work in progress.
“The beauty about tonight was that we lost our composure, plus probably some bad coaching a little bit, but we were still able to hang in there and our defense brought us right back,” Woodson said.
You can believe the team is out of the woods with the new coach, or you can maintain a healthy, emotional distance from this nutty franchise and wait to see what comes next. There is good reason to believe the Knicks will win several games soon while aspirations grow delusional. Before March is through, they have two games against Toronto, one against Detroit and one vs. Cleveland. In April, however, the schedule has the Knicks at Indiana, at Orlando, home and away vs. the Bulls, plus a big road game at Milwaukee.

By then, Anthony and Stoudemire may have stopped listening to Woodson, started moping again. Funny thing about losing in the NBA. It’s always the coach’s fault.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/basketball/knicks/ny-knicks-putting-effort-interim-coach-mike-woodson-missing-coach-mike-antoni-article-1.1041689#ixzz1pRsA7CxH

We can only hope this is for real and that they will carry this effort all the way thru.

Wow Nix you totally missed it. The 4 were all defensive tasks!

When did MDA put 4 defensive tasks as priority ones that you ever heard from him or one of his players? NEVER

1. Push the ball
2. Run Run Run
3. Keep shooting the shots will eventually fall, Tony
4. We need spacing guys

NA NA, NA NA NA NA, HEY HEY HEY GOODBYE

crzymdups wrote:yeah, the idea that they're playing the same defense is wrong. they stopped switching on EVERYTHING, which is music to my eyes and ears. teams run picks to create mismatches - it was like d'antoni called for switching just to accomodate them because he wanted to see a beautiful free flowing offense on at least one end of the floor.

I thought Woodson ran the defense though, so wouldn't the switching be Woodson's call or did MDA override Woodson?

newyorknewyork wrote:

crzymdups wrote:yeah, the idea that they're playing the same defense is wrong. they stopped switching on EVERYTHING, which is music to my eyes and ears. teams run picks to create mismatches - it was like d'antoni called for switching just to accomodate them because he wanted to see a beautiful free flowing offense on at least one end of the floor.

I thought Woodson ran the defense though, so wouldn't the switching be Woodson's call or did MDA override Woodson?

Or maybe, it was Woodson's call to switch everything in the beginning, then he reevaluated the situation, realized it wasn't working and made an adjustement.

Uptown wrote:

newyorknewyork wrote:

crzymdups wrote:yeah, the idea that they're playing the same defense is wrong. they stopped switching on EVERYTHING, which is music to my eyes and ears. teams run picks to create mismatches - it was like d'antoni called for switching just to accomodate them because he wanted to see a beautiful free flowing offense on at least one end of the floor.

I thought Woodson ran the defense though, so wouldn't the switching be Woodson's call or did MDA override Woodson?

Or maybe, it was Woodson's call to switch everything in the beginning, then he reevaluated the situation, realized it wasn't working and made an adjustement.

Problem with this is, we've been switching everything since MDA got here and we don't switch everything now....... you can fill in the rest of the blanks.

“On offense, we have a little more post-ups, not a lot more,” Jeremy Lin was saying after the Knicks whipped Indiana, 102-88, Saturday night. “The defense hasn’t changed. We have all 15 guys buying in now. That’s the big difference.”
Close your eyes, and that six-game losing streak never happened. D’Antoni was never here. There was never a mutiny-by-lethargy. All is fine, except we have to be careful, because this team broke New York hearts already once this season, fired a coach and played a game no longer recognizable to anyone as basketball.

Reading is fundamental! People see what they want to see. The team is still switching and even the announcers mentioned it last night. Woodson used a switching defense even in ATL. As I said Woody uses the SAME defense as MDA. The real difference is the effort level to get over pick and hedge on PnR. Let's not forget that the team WAS DOING THIS, during Linsanity. The defense was great. The team wasn't as deep then, but the role players and Tyson did defend at a high level. It only dropped off when STAT and Melo came back. Then to add insult to injury Tyson then Jared missed games.

My main reason for posting counter arguments to the Anti MDA crew is that there are impressions and then there are FACTS. Woody has been here and a voice at practice since day one and this team has been working on the same defense all year. If he saw something that was wrong he clearly cold address it in practice with no interference from MDA. They tag teamed in practice. We saw that from practice film. MDA even let Woody help him in all aspects of the game other than D. There were no issues between the coaches at least. MDA stated clearly that they were not instructed to switch everything, but when you have lazy STARS it happens more than you want to see it. When you have STAT playing Matador D to the point that opposing team broadcast is doing slow mo of his moving out of the way, the you know who the culprits were for our suddenly poor D after they had been great on D during Linsanity.

Magically as soon as MDA was gone all of a sudden we see Melo Defending and not breaking plays, but instead doing everything MDA was asking in the 1st place. Dude is fitting in and not forcing it as much. Melo is actually using catch and shoot plays as designed rather than always going into ISO. Melo is giving effort on D to the point of exhaustion. He could easily have done these things before and it was his duty as a team leader. STAT was guilty on the defensive end, but Melo was being disruptive on both ends. One need only to look at the stats and it's clear that Melo was having a negative impact. The team was better when he wasn't on the floor and that goes for offense and defense.

Since Anthony returned on Feb. 20, the Knicks are averaging 109.8 points per 100 possessions with Anthony off the floor and just 97.6 points per 100 possessions with him on the floor.

Even worse, they are allowing 107.1 points per 100 possessions with Anthony on the floor and just 95.1 points per 100 with him off the floor.

They're also shooting 5.6 percent better with Anthony off the floor. With Anthony on the floor, opponents are shooting 4.5 percent higher. Yikes.

Melo will have to keep up his effort level or else face some tough love from NY fans and media. The same will be said for STAT. They are fully exposed now. They can't hide anymore behind a coach as the reason for their lack of effort. All of NY is hoping they can keep it up, cuz if they do this team can go far.

Anji wrote:

Uptown wrote:

Anji wrote:

Uptown wrote:

newyorknewyork wrote:

crzymdups wrote:yeah, the idea that they're playing the same defense is wrong. they stopped switching on EVERYTHING, which is music to my eyes and ears. teams run picks to create mismatches - it was like d'antoni called for switching just to accomodate them because he wanted to see a beautiful free flowing offense on at least one end of the floor.

I thought Woodson ran the defense though, so wouldn't the switching be Woodson's call or did MDA override Woodson?

Or maybe, it was Woodson's call to switch everything in the beginning, then he reevaluated the situation, realized it wasn't working and made an adjustement.

Problem with this is, we've been switching everything since MDA got here and we don't switch everything now....... you can fill in the rest of the blanks.

That maybe true, but the point I'm trying to make is Woodson doesn't seem stuck on this "Thats not how we do things," mantra. Watch the game, if its not working, make an adjustment.

He is definitely flexible as a coach, and that maybe from losing his Hawks job from run ins with Jsmooth. But I heard many people in the media belittle our defense for switching everything for years, because as Madhops points out, match up problems is the reason that you run pick and rolls............and here we were basically giving up 3 or more mismatches on a giving play by design.

No coach worth his salt defensively should switch everything.

The players were never instructed to switch everything. Laziness was a huge factor in all the switching. Woody and MDA run the same defense. Which is a switching defense, but it's supposed to be done as a last resort. When the team was winning and playing great D during Linsanity it was working right, because STAT and Melo weren't involved for 30+ minutes a game. Now that both have stepped up their effort level we see it less, but they still switch. As long as they talk and make sure to switch back then it's not as bad. They've started to do that recently which is what they should've been doing all along. Woody has been here thru the good and bad, so he's also stained by the bad as well.

From Randolph to Lee to Stat
From Crawford to duhon to felton

It's the dumbest defensive scheme ive ever seen in my life. Didn't matter if it was on ball or on screens or just simple off ball motion. We've been watching that Bull**** for 3years, I didn't just imagine it Nix.