... a lot of these guys are still young and they're trying to figure it out. Those guys have been around the block a number of times and they've done it, so they'll be the go-to-guys down stretch."

- Mike Woodson

nixluva wrote:

mrKnickShot wrote:

Anji wrote:Knicks won baby, im not arguing about anymore. Talking about things I see on the court. I like seeing plays being run, not freelance pick and rolls. I like seeing my coach giving input, telling guys to get back. Likes it and you can't rain on tonites parade.

Yeah I know, we were suppose to posting in my vagina is hurting for MDA threads all night, but there was a change in schedule!!!!!!!!

Let's Go(x100)!!!!!!!!!!

Lets just learn how to deal with the "This is the offense the MDA taught them commments" sadly mentioned every 10 minutes. It's the most we can do.

Is it the truth or not??? Don't just talk ish tell us how it wasn't the same exact system they've been playing all year. See it easy to make comments and jokes with no actual argument to refute a statement. We all want Woodson to succeed in coaching the team but why lie about what he did today? He's gonna be able to make adjustments over time, but tonight he could only do so much.
The players just came with a commitment to play hard all night and to pay team ball, which is all that MDA was trying to get them to do. What in this statement is untrue?

Woodson, for now, has gotten his message across

Defense

misterearl wrote:Nixluva - as we learned with jvg and countless other head coaches, sometimes it is not the message but the messenger.

Woodson, for now, has gotten his message across

Defense

Exactly why didn't that message get across all the previous months Woodson has been here running these guys thru defensive drills and on the bench etc.

That's not the reason things have taken off. MDA left which squashed the beef with Melo and then STAT and Melo decided to finally show up on defense!!! The biggest difference is that the team is finally defending the same with the starters as they have with the bench players. Those Bench guys have been playing hard all year. It's STAT and Melo that haven't been. When they were both out the D was great and we were winning. STAT and Melo came back and they drained the team of it's previously great defensive intensity. MDA resigns and that same evening they snap out of it. I'm not buying that it was MDA somehow not doing something as opposed to it was STAT and Melo not doing their job and giving their all.

yellowboy90 wrote:Its easy to play for a coach you know doesn't want you on his team. It really instills confidence when your coach doesn't beleive you can be successful in his system.

the crazy thing about melo is that we know he can be successful in MDA's system - he did it plenty. he scored 39pts in back to back games last april and then 42 in the playoffs. and season opener christmas day against boston he was dominant.

it goes deeper, i think, or there's more to it than melo simply not being able to score/produce in his system. i wonder if he thought they couldn't win in MDA's system.

crzymdups wrote:this is reminding me more and more of when JVG took over for Don Nelson. did people call ewing and starks coach killers? no, nellie was just using them wrong. wrong philosophy for the group of players he had. same thing with MDA. it's that simple. props to him for admitting it. i was upset with how it went down, but it's hard to argue that the team finally looks like what we thought this group of players could look like.

excellent point with the Nelson / JVG analogy. The intense scrutiny/ resentment of Carmelo for killing Gallo, Mozgov, Wilson Chandler AND Linsanity overlooks the fact that everyone has different strengths. The idea is to maximize skill sets and combinations.

No matter who it is

Carmelo (and everyone else) still needs to be put in a position to thrive (on defense first)

Forget the final score. For the second night in a row, an opponent struggled to score. Lisanity is not dead. SSOL is dead.

The stated goal from Woodson is to hold opponents under 25 in the first quarter

long live 25OL

There is something about holding teams under 90 points that is very entertaining.

Another team is blasted away in the fourth quarter with dominant rebounding and rugged defense.

Amar'e Stoudemire appears to be rounding into game condition at the right time.

JR Smith is playing inspired basketball on both ends.

Someone get Jeremy Lin a cut man like Angelo Dundee.

Beat Philadelphia

mrKnickShot wrote:Woodson said that he wants to ease off with all the switching on defense. Interesting ... I am not sure who's idea that was, or maybe he just thinks that it is now an area to tweak.

Is it me, or does Woody seem a lot more candid with the media? Fewer canned answers - real explanations in regards to his mindset.

Bring The Wood

“I’ll say to you, and I’ll say to Melo, he’s got to bring the energy now. I’m the head coach. I can’t speak for what has happened. I was a part of it. But he’s got to play harder. And Amar’e’s got to play harder. Everybody’s got to play harder to get us where we need to go.”

Mike Woodson is nowhere near as cute or clever as Mike D'Antoni was in interviews. Woody is direct and to the point.

mrKnickShot - His words seem to have more purpose and force behind them. He is no "Mister Nice Guy." Woodson pushes back against questions in a manner similar to (a well behaved) Bobby Knight or Larry Brown. It would be very cool to watch how hard he pushes during practice. Media interviews are only a small sample of style.

"We did what we had to do from a defensive standpoint. Make no mistake about it, it was our defense that got us the spurt we needed. That's what good teams are supposed to do. We just got to bottle it up and just continue to do it."

Just win baby.

RoyBatty - forget the media statements. Woodson is using our bench, as a platoon, to gain advantage.

During the Knicks’ recent three-game winning streak, the bench is seeing the floor an average of 109 minutes per game. To put that in perspective, during D’Antoni’s final three games, the reserves had accounted for a total of just over 70 minutes a game off the bench.

http://offthedribble.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/20/newest-knick-in-the-spotlight-the-bench/

More interesting still, whereas Woodson is slowly but surely reshaping the primary offense according to his more old school philosophy, he has allowed the second unit to ratchet up the tempo – a kind of tip of the hat to the recently departed. The result is a team that can give opponents a number of shape-shifting looks, allowing the guys in orange and blue ample time to develop rhythms and grooves.

Shape-shifting is a great concept. How many teams can actually accelerate the pace with the bench?

Not many.

Iman Shumpert looked more comfortable running at the lead guard last night, than he has all season. If Toney Douglas can return to a reasonable facsimile of a basketball player, he and Shumpert can lock down a second unit's backcourt for about eight minutes in any first half.

Release the hounds!