D'Antoni sees Suns' sweep of Spurs as vindication

Originally published: May 10, 2010 7:39 PM
Updated: May 10, 2010 9:37 PM
By ALAN HAHN alan.hahn@newsday.com

Mike D'Antoni said the Phoenix Suns' win over nemesis San Antonio proves his style of basketball works.
After years of being tripped

Photo credit: AP | After years of being tripped up by the Spurs, Jason Richardson and the Phoenix Suns finally overcame their rival in the conference semifinals. (May 9, 2010)

Mike D'Antoni watched Sunday with a smile as the Suns, as he put it, "slayed an old nemesis" by sweeping the Spurs in a Western Conference semifinal.

He appreciated what it meant for his former allies Steve Nash, Amar'e Stoudemire and coach Alvin Gentry, but D'Antoni also took from the Suns' success a measure of personal vindication.

That's his system the Suns are playing. And they're back in the conference finals for the third time in six years.

"What I'm really happy about is you see the way Orlando and Phoenix play, they're arguably two of the best teams, and that's how we need to play,'' the Knicks' coach said. The Magic also uses a spread offense featuring the pick and roll and three-point shooting. "They're reaffirming the blueprint that'll get us to a championship. And that's what we've got to do in New York."

D'Antoni said he thinks the Suns "have a legitimate shot at beating the Lakers'' in the Western Conference finals. He would love to see the Suns play the Magic in the NBA Finals, for two obvious reasons:

(1) The offensive style he believes in would be guaranteed to win a championship, which many detractors say it can't do.

(2) It would mean LeBron James' Cavaliers didn't reach the Finals for the third consecutive year. That might motivate him to consider joining the Knicks as a free agent this summer.

Finally overcoming the Spurs was something to savor because of the bitter history, but there is some reality to consider. Despite upsetting the second-seeded Mavericks in the first round, the Spurs hardly are a championship contender anymore. "The Spurs aren't half the team they were," D'Antoni said. "Tim Duncan isn't the problem he used to be."

But the Suns are exactly what they were under D'Antoni. Gentry is credited for re-establishing D'Antoni's offense while also emphasizing defense after D'Antoni's replacement, Terry Porter, was fired last season.

Stoudemire routinely points out that Gentry talks more about defense than D'Antoni ever did. Statistically, however, the Suns aren't more efficient than they were under D'Antoni.

According to HoopData.com, Gentry's Suns ranked 23rd in defensive efficiency (110.2) compared with D'Antoni's teams, which for his four seasons were 16th (106.8) on average.

"They're playing better defense, and you've got to give Alvin credit for that," D'Antoni said. "Amar'e can say what he wants, but we talked every day to him about defense. I mean, we're not stupid. We emphasized and tried, but he wasn't ready to buy into it totally.

"And Alvin got him to buy in, and I think that's Alvin's strength. He got a bond with Amar'e that I probably couldn't reach, and it's worked."

The Dolan family owns controlling interests in the Knicks, MSG and Cablevision. Cablevision owns Newsday.

nyk4ever wrote:i wouldn't doubt his quote about amar'e. amar'e is a bandwagoner in the truest sense of the term.

So both him and Gentry spoke to Amare about defense but Amare told Mike GTFO and said will do Alvin. I'm not buying it. The Suns aren't running SSOL. They are fastbreaking off turnovers. Amare point is that the Suns are looking to play POST DEFENSE rather than just give up it and hope to out run the other teams after a made basket. This was a point that Porter tried to make while talking about slowing the game down. MDA can take as many bows as he wants but Gentry is doing what guys like Barkley were crying for him to do five years ago.

LaMarcus Aldridge gets the ball down in the low post, turns and runs into an Amar'e Stoudemire he has rarely seen before -- active, aggressive, more vigilant than a guard at an old East German border crossing.

Andre Miller starts out with his dribble on the wing and tries to do one of his hip-shaking dancing-with-the-stars routines into the lane where he can finish with an easy shot. But before Miller can find an opening, he's surrounded and his path blocked as if a timber truck has just dropped its load on a two-lane highway.

Yikes! The Trail Blazers have fallen down the rabbit hole into a strange new wonderland. The Suns are playing defense.

"As long as you have Steve Nash and Amar'e (Stoudemire) and surround them with some shooters, you're gonna be a pretty good offensive team," said Suns coach Alvin Gentry. "I just thought that in order for us to be a serious contender and to have any kind of situation in the West where we were going to be a factor, we were going to have to be able to come up with stops."

Through the first three games against Portland, the Suns have limited the Blazers to just 43.2 percent shooting from the field, which ranks sixth among all playoff teams, and given up an average of only 94.7 points a game, which ranks seventh.

"People don't usually associate the Suns and defense in the same sentence," said Grant Hill. "But we really have improved and, I guess, surprised some people."

http://www.nba.com/2010/news/features/fran_blinebury/04/23/suns.blazers.offday/index.html

LivingLegend wrote:

Pharzeone wrote:

nyk4ever wrote:i wouldn't doubt his quote about amar'e. amar'e is a bandwagoner in the truest sense of the term.

So both him and Gentry spoke to Amare about defense but Amare told Mike GTFO and said will do Alvin. I'm not buying it. The Suns aren't running SSOL. They are fastbreaking off turnovers. Amare point is that the Suns are looking to play POST DEFENSE rather than just give up it and hope to out run the other teams after a made basket. This was a point that Porter tried to make while talking about slowing the game down. MDA can take as many bows as he wants but Gentry is doing what guys like Barkley were crying for him to do five years ago.

LaMarcus Aldridge gets the ball down in the low post, turns and runs into an Amar'e Stoudemire he has rarely seen before -- active, aggressive, more vigilant than a guard at an old East German border crossing.

Andre Miller starts out with his dribble on the wing and tries to do one of his hip-shaking dancing-with-the-stars routines into the lane where he can finish with an easy shot. But before Miller can find an opening, he's surrounded and his path blocked as if a timber truck has just dropped its load on a two-lane highway.

Yikes! The Trail Blazers have fallen down the rabbit hole into a strange new wonderland. The Suns are playing defense.

"As long as you have Steve Nash and Amar'e (Stoudemire) and surround them with some shooters, you're gonna be a pretty good offensive team," said Suns coach Alvin Gentry. "I just thought that in order for us to be a serious contender and to have any kind of situation in the West where we were going to be a factor, we were going to have to be able to come up with stops."

Through the first three games against Portland, the Suns have limited the Blazers to just 43.2 percent shooting from the field, which ranks sixth among all playoff teams, and given up an average of only 94.7 points a game, which ranks seventh.

"People don't usually associate the Suns and defense in the same sentence," said Grant Hill. "But we really have improved and, I guess, surprised some people."

http://www.nba.com/2010/news/features/fran_blinebury/04/23/suns.blazers.offday/index.html

Amare is older and it's a contract year.

Fact is the Sun's were ready and willing to give him up earlier this year because he still wasn't going 100% on both ends.

Even the Sun's have publicly stated that Amare has committed to defend.

Sorry - but if that's the case I don't think it's the coach getting to the player -- its the player realizing he can't get a max deal without showing effort on defense.

He has some major incentive (max deal) to put forth maximum effort right now. Admitting that he never played D for D'Antoni wouldn't be a great idea for someone trying to convince the rest of the NBA he deserves a MAX deal.

No question a lot of finger pointing falls on the Suns players for shirking off their responsibilities. Really no player in the NBA should need a coach to tell them to play defense when they get paid millions of dollars to do their job on both ends of the court. But I believe what hits home is D'AnToni's poor communication methods to his players and and implementing what supposedly was preached/is preached. Take for instance if D'AnToni was demanding that Amar'e play better D but never holding him accountable when he chose not to play it or even worse telling the team they have to play better D but spending 99% of their practice time going over offensive schemes and sets it makes it that much more difficult to take the coach seriously when naturally you already have a flaw in your approach to playing the game the right way.

Are some of you suggesting that even Terry Porter who was heralded by Kerr as the coach who would bring in D, never coached Amare to play D??? What was his excuse then or any other year he's been in the league.

MDA stressed D here but it's up to the players to expend the effort. Every team LB ever coached defended except ours! Gee what's the common theme here? That's why we cleaned house. In the end the players have to want to defend or you replace them.

Do you agree that Mike D'Antoni not emphasizing defense set you back:

"I think so. With us not really focused defensively and not teaching defense a lot of the finger pointing was towards me saying that I wasn't a good defensive player but I just was never taught defensive strategy so it really was kind of unfair to put the blame on me. I think over time, it shows now that we are a better defensive team, we got guys that can play defense and my defense is not really that bad."

Do you enjoy this brand of basketball more than D'Antoni seven seconds or less?

"With this offense we are not just going to shoot any shots, we're not going to shot bad shots. We're to make sure we get quality shots. We're going to make sure we get good looks at the basket. Sometimes in Seven Seconds or Less you shoot up a couple of shots and you get in the habit of shooting bad shots and kind of bits you sometimes in the playoffs. In this offense we are more humble out there. We know what's good shots and when to take them."

Papabear wrote:

sebstar wrote:

nixluva wrote:They just pointed out that this Suns team isn't as good defensively as MDA's teams were and still this crap persists!!! The Suns always had a decent Defense under MDA just not a dominant D. How do you suppose a team wins 62 games out west not playing D? Amare as I've been saying was always criticized for his lack of effort on D.

Are some of you suggesting that even Terry Porter who was heralded by Kerr as the coach who would bring in D, never coached Amare to play D??? What was his excuse then or any other year he's been in the league.

MDA stressed D here but it's up to the players to expend the effort. Every team LB ever coached defended except ours! Gee what's the common theme here? That's why we cleaned house. In the end the players have to want to defend or you replace them.

A coach is supposed to motivate and get the most out of player's talents and abilities and overall provide leadership. Yes, while I think the whole X's and O's idea of defense is overrated, to a certain extent, when it comes to D'ivatoni's abilities or lack thereof --- what I do see as a problem is the tone he sets with his egomaniacal ways and lack of accountability.

They see a coach who wants to convince the world that he has never made a mistake, and in addition hasnt found a player he's not willing to throw under-the-bus. Player's effort have seemingly reflected D'Antoni's lack of character.

He just doesnt come across as a stand up guy. Or a mature leader. Everyone is so quick to point out how ego-fueled and self-centered players are, but this cat right here takes the cake and nobody seems to call him out on it.

He just doesnt seem like the kind of coach players want to fight for. Nor a guy you can count on when things get rough or the pressure gets a lil tight.

Papabear Says

The Knicks are softies! They won't even take a charge, Oakley, Starks, Mason, Ewing,Spree, LJ now these were tough guys.

In Stone Age people were tuff... The eat row meat and fight with wolfs with bare hands.

nixluva wrote:Amare can talk all he wants, but he had another coach right after MDA and that coach was brought in to instill DEFENSE and a more conservative offense and the team basically called for his head!!! Amare had every opportunity to play D for Porter and didn't in fact he didn't do it for Gentry in the 31 games he coached them in 08-09, when the team was giving up 107 ppg.

"Stoudemire routinely points out that Gentry talks more about defense than D'Antoni ever did. Statistically, however, the Suns aren't more efficient than they were under D'Antoni.
According to HoopData.com, Gentry's Suns ranked 23rd in defensive efficiency (110.2) compared with D'Antoni's teams, which for his four seasons were 16th (106.8) on average."

Let's repeat, MDA's teams were at the top of the league in Point Differential and statistically a better defensive team. They won more games than Gentry's Suns team and faced stiffer competition going against the Spurs at their peak. Just cuz Gentry talks about D more doesn't mean Amare had an excuse not to play the same level of D that Bell, Diaw, KT or Marion were playing when they played for MDA.

I play D all the time and no one has to tell me that I need to play hard. That's just a convenient excuse that weak minded players use. Amare is full of crap in this regard and admitting he hasn't played hard his whole career.

why does it matter so much to make mike look good from his suns era? he is the coach here and hasnt looked elite as a coach for ny. isnt that what matters? folks hated larry and he coached a champ team prior. folks didnt always like lenny, same deal.

He never took credit for it. He felt satisfied that a coach using the system he brought into the league that has been derided won. In reality, all it did was beat a declining Spurs team and so far it hasn't taken the Suns any further than when Pringles ran it there, but I digress.

"His" offensive philosophy finally beat the Spurs who were constantly his roadblock in PHX.

The part about the defense is pretty funny though. Thing is, to me there are 2 different types of defense. The first, and more conventional type we are all very familiar with. Think Knicks in the Riley era. Just stop the opponent from scoring. Hold them the whole 24 seconds. Be brutal. Fratello's Cavs, the championship level Spurs, the Bad Boy and Larry Brown Pistons played this way.

The second, which is the type Pringles runs, is trying to cause turnovers. I have seen several times, that he mentions he wants his defense to ignite the offense and get some easy baskets off turnovers and fastbreaks. The Showtime Lakers, Rick Pitino's Celtics, the Nets when they were making the finals all played more in this vein.

You want to watch a team that doesn't play D, though, go watch Doug Moe's Denver Nuggets circa the mid 80's.

fishmike wrote:

According to HoopData.com, Gentry's Suns ranked 23rd in defensive efficiency (110.2) compared with D'Antoni's teams, which for his four seasons were 16th (106.8) on average.

Just so I get this right. You guys knock MDA because his teams dont defend. Then you praise Gentry's team because they defend. But MDAs teams were actually better defensively.

Good one.

Got it.

<crickets...>