Nalod wrote:good coaches have good players. Go figure.
I love this Vaccaro article from the Post. JVG didn't have a lot of great players but the guys he had would leave it all out on the floor for him. I don't think we have that kind of leadership now at the coaching spot. I don't think we have a guy that gets that from his team or puts in the effort. There is a reason why Scott Skiles could get the Bucks so far last year with a roster similar in talent to the Knicks at the time.
In memory, we remember those Knicks as a great defensive team.
And in reality, they may have been even better than that.
In reality — in the archived evidence of videotape — they picked opponents up at the hash mark and they never, ever let them breathe. This hardly was a great version of those Knicks — Patrick Ewing was in street clothes and Terry Cummings, Chris Dudley and Chris Mills were getting big minutes — but it didn’t matter. They didn’t just guard you, they blanketed you. They harassed you. You might score, but you were going to bleed for those two, or three, points.
Yes. It was an inspiring thing to see.
And then, on live-action television, on the MSG Network, the 2011 Knicks went out and played defense the way they’ve come to play defense over the past decade — so badly, so poorly, so indifferently, that it makes you wonder if five orange cones wouldn’t be just as effective as five live Knicks.
Chauncey Billups, who in less than a week already has revealed himself to be the most honest and self-aware Knick in years, described Friday’s miserable 115-109 loss perfectly.
“Offensively, we’ll probably be fine,” he said. “Mike [D’Antoni’s] system is awesome offensively. Defensively, the pick-and-roll hurt us tonight, and rebounding destroyed us tonight. It’s more chemistry than anything because everyone is playing hard [on defense].”
Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/knicks/antoni_defense_gives_opponents_too_7tnMwIkDp0dpyhHACI6gWK#ixzz0agvcdm3z
2/27/2011 11:23 PM
