Its the NBA. Shit happens.

Nalod wrote:Hansbrough hung 29 on the Bulls the other nite and beat them.

Its the NBA. Shit happens.

You know how the fans are, not suppose to happen to our team.

Childs2Dudley wrote:

martin wrote:

Childs2Dudley wrote:

martin wrote:

Knicksfan wrote:

Childs2Dudley wrote:What do you know, Miami is winning a game with good DEFENSE...

What? According to D'Antoni, we always play solid defense.

Really. Stop reading just snippets of what's posted online, if you watch any of the post game stuff or pregame interviews he is alway talking about needing to play better D.

D'Antoni is not a good defensive coach. He does not have the right defensive philosophy and is a stubborn person to boot. It's not a good combination. This guy has been a bad defensive coach at every single NBA head coaching stop. This is not the first time. And if he ever gets a job after this again, it wont be the last.

I literally have zero idea what MDA's defensive philosophy is, perhaps you could help me understand it. Please explain.

It's my assumption that good teams will have both the coaching/philosophy as well as the players, right? Let me know your thoughts on that too.

Seems to me most all very good defensive teams have 1-2 guys who are good at post defense and/or rotating to cover the paint area with perhaps 1 wing who is a lock-down type. Let me know what players MDA has had in either PHO or NY has either helped or hindered his philosophy.

Thanks.

Why do you and others get perturbed any time someone questions the great Mike D'Antoni? What has he shown here that is worthy of this staunch support? What has he shown anywhere that is worthy of this staunch support? Certainly it is not the defensive regimen we are all looking for.

MDA's defensive philosophy is switching on every pick and roll, doubling guys in the paint and playing zone half the game. This same exact thing has been going on since he has been here. Nothing has changed at all. We have players that are defensive players in Jeffries, Turiaf, Sheldon, Shawne, Mason, Carter, Brown, Douglas, and Fields and they are either not being utilized or not being utilized properly.

Who does Miami have in the paint? Joel Anthony and Erick Dampier? Juwan Howard? 40 year old Igaulskas? Who exactly is so imposing? They know how to play great team defense. James Jones and and Mike Miller and Mike Bibby Eddie House are not some elite defenders. You know what the key is here? Besides the fact that Spoelstra is a better coach than D'Antoni (as any Riley disciple is), the star players in Dywane Wade and Lebron James elevate the defensive performance of their supporting cast with the good-great defense they play on a nightly basis. The Heat never had a problem with defense. When they had to "gel", it was on the offensive end. We're not having the same type of problem. Our problem is the combination of poor coaching and poor "star" leadership that is leading to poorer defense.

Another example of a great defensive team being led by superstar is the Bulls. Of course you can't overlook Thibodeau's great defensive strategies. He's even got Boozer and Korver playing some defense down there. If you replace Tom Thibodeau with Mike D'Antoni that team is in our position right now in playoff seeding.

Defense wins championships. D'Antoni's psuedo-defense will win you a round in the playoffs. Besides that, it will be a whole lost of regular season victories and early playoff exits under Pringles. Phoenix didn't miss a beat with Alvin Gentry running the same system last year. It's another reason why Suns fans didn't shed a tear when this guy hit the road.

This is a really good post.

I agree that D'Antoni's defensive strategies suck. I kind of think Dolan will fire him this summer, anyway.

Can we bring back JVG finally?

Childs2Dudley wrote:Why do you and others get perturbed any time someone questions the great Mike D'Antoni? What has he shown here that is worthy of this staunch support? What has he shown anywhere that is worthy of this staunch support? Certainly it is not the defensive regimen we are all looking for.

I just told you that I don't know what MDA's defensive philosophy was and have write the words "the Knicks defense sucks" in other threads repeatedly.

Mostly I am responding to the lack of substance when you are arguing that MDA's defensive philosophy sticks.

You bring up Miami and Chicago as 2 teams to compare the Knicks too. I have no idea why, but here goes.

Miami start with 2 all-world defenders on the wings. Miami's on-court leaders had already done it before coming to the team, that counts for a lot especially when you contrast it with Melo/Amare. Bosh, although a *****, is a follower and will do whatever LeBron and Wade do, and he is a decent big. Put him next to Dampier, who anchored Dallas' D for many years, and that front line is not that bad (Damp, Bosh, LeBron; 7', 6'11", 6'8" all world). Joel Anthony is not on that team for his O, right? I would equate him to a Turiaf who doesn't get hurt and knows how to rebound. Haslem before he got hurt set a very nice tone and attitude for the team over the past several years. Chambers is also an above average defender. Miami does have a team with some size, albeit a lot of those dudes play scant minutes, but, when you compare them to a team like the Knicks, that is a very big difference.

There is no doubt in my mind that Thibs is a much better defensive player than any of the Knicks' coaches, probably significantly so. But I don't think it's also a stretch to say that he has a more complete team to work with too. I don't watch too many of their games so I am not down on what exactly they are doing but here is my shot (and with full-well knowledge that Noah, Booz have missed substantial games 21 and 32 out of 68 so far). Let's start with their bigs: Noah, Booz, Taj, Kurt Thomas, Asik. 2 guys who start and Taj who is there first sub with the savy Kurt to play. I do believe that Asik has taken Kurts minutes lately. Asik is their 4th big (Noah, Booz, Taj as 1, 2, 3) who plays off the bench. You know who his equivalent is with the Knicks IMHO? It used to be Mosgov, who MDA was so desperate to fill the center roll with; on one team he is the 4th big and on ours he was the first (or near that anyway, perhaps second). Deng was an above average defender who bought into giving effort at SF for the Bulls before Thibs ever got there. That's a decent front line.

The Knicks just traded 3/5 of their starting lineup. They were left with Amare, Fields. 1 big who we also see has less than average defensive instincts and a rookie. We got back an aging PG, a less than average defensive SF, and are filling the C role with a tall SF (or Amare depending on matchup). Off the bench: Turiaf, who is glass and can't rebound; 6'9" Sheldon, who got let go by Boston and a whole slew of other teams and who is no defensive genius. Who the heck are the rest of our bigs? 6'8" second round pick Brown? AR previously? Moz?

Pre-trade with Moz in the lineup, the Knicks started 2 rookies and Amare. Or they are undersized with Amare at C, Chandler at PF. They are still undersized when they start Turiaf. Fields, for all of his rebounding prowess, is still a rookie and learning NBA defense.

These are the big differences in circumstance between the Knicks and other teams. Am I defending the MDA and his Knicks philosophy? Am I pointing out things that are just reality? Am I putting perspective into what is happening? You tell me. All I have done is show what MDA has to work with, from there it's up to him to do the coaching.

You know what's weird? For a large part of the whole season the Knicks have a top 5 offensive team by all accounts (give or take a phallic standard deviation); that right there is a minor miracle considering that start a rookie at a traditional key scoring position, start Moz for half the games he was here, and also play 1 guy (JJ, Turiaf) in a significant role who is 100% inept at offense. 4 on 5 with a rookie or 2 starting. WOW.

Let's fire the coach, that always works and seems to be a good solution.