knickstorrents wrote:Well I guess all the players collectively lost their mind and choked?

Why didn't MDA do a NASA stress test during the half time to make sure they did it?

Or at lest an ink blot test to interpret fatigue levels.

Why didn't they fold in the 3rd period?

Why couldn't 3 HOF's and allstar pt guard could not put away the Knicks depleted of AMare and Chauns?

Maybe good coaching? Hot Allstar on career night?

Why are fans "Demanding" an answer?

crzymdups wrote:

Bippity10 wrote:There is not a human being on the planet that needed to be reminded to foul in that situation. It was obvious and no reminders were needed. These are the little details we need to learn if we want to be a winner some day. A coach should not have to remind them. My 9 year old boys team fouls in that situation without me reminding them. It's like having to remind a player to catch a ball when it is headed for his face.

Delonte beat Melo. Maybe Melo forgot that they changed the rule that players are allowed to go into the backcourt to get in an inbounds in that situation now. Wasn't always the rule.

Whatever the case, there were less than 4 seconds and the Knicks had no timeouts.

Knicks fans need to stop whining.

Maybe he did forget. Maybe he was mentally tired. Maybe he was beat by Delonte. All those could be true. That's the difference between a good team and a championship team. A great team does not forget the rule. A great team does not get beat on a play like that. A great team does not get mentally tired. The better teams win these games down the stretch becasue they are always up on these small details. In the huddle the coach may remind them and they may remind the coach. Either way, it gets done. These small details are why Boston is up 2-0. All teams must learn these things to get to the next level.

Win or Lose, D’Antoni Deserves Another Year
By WILLIAM C. RHODEN
Published: April 21, 2011

The pillorying of Knicks Coach Mike D’Antoni has reached the point of unfairness. The team narrowly loses its first two playoff games on the road to the Boston Celtics, a team with three future Hall of Fame candidates, and fans want to throw stones at the coach. Coach Mike D'Antoni has led the Knicks to their first postseason appearance since 2004.

The Knicks lose their Rock of Gibraltar guard, Chauncey Billups, at a crucial juncture in Game 1, then lose Amar’e Stoudemire in Game 2. Carmelo Anthony goes for 42 points in Game 2, and fans want to nitpick endgame decisions.

Misery and fatalism are annual staples for Knicks fans. The sky is always falling.

This should be a time of celebration in New York. Spring is here. Madison Square Garden will be rocking Friday night when the Knicks host their first playoff game since 2004, maybe the first that has mattered in over a decade. On top of everything else, this series is one the Knicks, depending on the severity of injuries to Billups and Stoudemire, can win.

A healthy Knicks team can beat an aging Celtics team, but the Knicks are not healthy. Yet, Knicks fans insist on wringing their hands and blasting the coach.

We’ve all taken shots at D’Antoni with good and not so good reasons. But the persistent criticism that he does not coach defense — and I have made it, too — has become a useless cliché.

He knows how to coach offense.

Knicks fans like to cite the Pat Riley era as a model of excellence. That was not beautiful basketball. If fans are honest with themselves, they will look at Riley’s buckets of blood era in New York and concede that the only fun was winning. But even those Knicks never won a championship.

Even if the Knicks are swept by the Celtics in this series, D’Antoni should have next season to make a case for himself. He had the guts of a young team ripped away in February when the Knicks traded Wilson Chandler, Raymond Felton, Danilo Gallinari, Timofey Mozgov and a 2014 first-round draft pick to Denver in exchange for Anthony and Billups.

The trade had to be made, but for the next two months D’Antoni used games as practice sessions to find a way to make the new pieces fit. Judging from calls to radio stations and conversations with Knicks fans, confidence in D’Antoni is fading. Yet, from late February till now, a stretch that might have been the roughest in his career, he has been stellar.

We can debate the merits of the trade from now until forever. The reality is Denver is 0-2 in its first-round series with Oklahoma City, just as the Knicks are 0-2. The difference is, the Knicks can win their series. The Nuggets, anchored by young, former New York players, may not be good enough to beat a superior team.

The Knicks rolled into the playoffs with a full head of steam. For the first time in a long time, Knicks fans can see the light, if only they could stop the handwringing. D’Antoni has seen the light as well. After a rocky ending in Phoenix as the Suns’ head coach and after being roundly criticized in New York, D’Antoni finally gets it: matador defense is not a New York state of mind. Likewise, Knicks fans who are used to cold and darkness in their basketball can appreciate an offense that generates a lot of points in spring.

There have been a number of good shepherds who led the Knicks close to the Promised Land. Now with Stoudemire and Anthony — maybe Billups, hopefully Chris Paul — fans can see the outline of a championship trophy.

Let the Knicks percolate; let them brew. D’Antoni is the right coach for the Knicks at the right time.

If we’re having this conversation about him next season at this time, then, sure, by all means, jettison the coach. But for now, Knicks fans need to back off and celebrate the light. Not for D’Antoni’s sake, for their own.

crzymdups wrote:Melo admitted it was a "mental lapse". Dude was exhausted after carrying the team. They had no timeouts left. With less than 4 seconds left, the idea that they were going to hit a three to take it to overtime is a little far-fetched.

Melo didn't know about the Trent Tucker rule, he didn't know when we were out of timeouts and he didn't know to chase Delonte.

He's a good ball player but he ain't coaching material.

Coach isn't too bright IMO.

I'm sorry but you can't even compare Doc to Mike in the last 2minutes of the game because Doc is killing him in the last 2minutes coaching wise in this and actually getting his team focused on what they need to do.

Even if I was to accept that he was trying to use the double off of JJ to win the game, why did the play look like **** from the start??? The spacing was terrible, were baby was allowed to double from was terrible, where JJ caught the ball was terrible....... you don't get morale victories when you make 5 million dollars a year.