By Daniel Sato, AP
New York Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony, left, and guard Jeremy Lin, right, are working much better together under interim coach Mike Woodson.
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By Daniel Sato, AP
New York Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony, left, and guard Jeremy Lin, right, are working much better together under interim coach Mike Woodson.

Defense, never one of D'Antoni's strong suits, has greatly improved under Woodson.

And despite the mass hysteria by the New York media that emergent point guard Jeremy Lin would suffer under Woodson, if anything, he and forward Carmelo Anthony seem to be working better together.

Statistically, what has been the difference for the Knicks since their final 10 games under D'Antoni? Here's a comparison, with statistics of those last 10 games vs. the first five under Woodson:

W-L record: 2-8 vs. 5-0

Avg. pts. scored: 101.5 vs. 105.2 —Up 3.7 pts.

Avg. pts. allowed: 103.6 vs. 86.6 —Down 17 pts.

Games allowing 100+ pts.: 7 vs. 1

FG%: 44.4% vs. 46.2% —Up 1.8%

Opp. FG%: 44.4% vs. 40.6% —Down 3.8%

Jeremy Lin's scoring average: 16.0 vs. 14.8 —Down 1.2 pts.

Carmelo Anthony's scoring average: 19.0 vs. 14.2 —Down 4.8 pts.

Lin's avg. FG attempts: 13.9 vs. 9.6 —Down 4.3 attempts

Anthony's avg. FG attempts: 17.1 vs. 13.4 —Down 3.7 attempts

Lin's FG%: 28.0% vs. 43.8% —Up 15.8%

Anthony's FG%: 40.4% vs. 38.8% —Down 1.6%

Lin's avg. minutes: 34.1 vs. 29.4 —Down 4.7 minutes

Anthony's avg. minutes: 34.2 vs. 28.6 —Down 5.6 minutes

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/basketball/nba/story/2012-03-22/New-York-Knicks-by-the-numbers-under-Mike-Woodson/53711374/1

BasketballJones wrote:Seems like the emphasis on defense is the key here - or is that too facile an explanation? Keeping the opponent under 90 reminds me of JVG.

Yes! And, I find myself loving and yearning for boring basketball as I did back then.

TripleThreat wrote:

Erniecat wrote:

BasketballJones wrote:Seems like the emphasis on defense is the key here - or is that too facile an explanation? Keeping the opponent under 90 reminds me of JVG.

No, that is the correct explanation. I've been saying since we hired D'Antoni that we need a coach who preaches defense.

No, IMHO, what was needed was ANY COACH NEXT IN LINE where the players, particularly Melo and STAT, had NO CHOICE but to play hard.

You could put the rotting corpse of Rich Kotite or any coaching pariah in NY sports lore out there for the Knicks and Melo and STAT would have no choice but to play hard and play defense. Greg Anthony mentioned this on the Boomer show not that long ago, when a team or a specific player gets a coach axed, then that player or team has no choice but to step it up because now there is no one else to blame but the player or team itself. Melo and STAT burned out MDA as the scapegoat but can ONLY DO IT ONCE. From here on out, if the team loses , the entire city will turn on the both of them.

I enjoy how everything is laid on MDA because Melo can't buy in and show some effort. And when he does, the same peanut gallery shows up to drop and their knees and take a big swallow. I find it disgraceful that any New York Knick fan or any that want to call themselves a Knick fan would act like they are grateful that Melo is showing the effort that should be the standard to start with, as if he's doing the city and fandom some kind of favor by showing up and not dogging it.

People act like Woodson came out of nowhere, it's not like he wasn't there during the losing streak, so what's different? Because if suddenly he's now preaching emphasis on D when he was hired SPECIFICALLY TO RUN THE DEFENSE, what does that say then? The ONLY WAY WOODSON CAN GET CREDIT FOR PUTTING A CURRENT EMPHASIS ON D IS TO DISCREDIT WHATEVER HE WAS DOING BEFORE. Sorry to infuse some logic here. So which is it? Woodson is a good defensive coach and his players or certain players didn't want to buy in? Or Woodson was a lousy defensive coach but suddenly became a good one in the last 5-6 games?

Here's a nugget for some of you Melo and STAT lovers. Melo and STAT dogging it cost the Knicks some wins, those wins might impact playoff seeding. That seeding might make the difference between advancing to another round or not. Advancing to another round means more home games. More home games means REVENUE to the city. To the people who work at the arena, to local businesses, to hotels, to people selling merchandise, to restaurants. We are talking millions upon millions of dollars. Not for superstars, but often for regular people trying to make a living. This is what I'm talking about when I talk about BEING A FRANCHISE PLAYER. A real franchise player thinks about the impact of his play upon his team , his team mates and his host city.

Even just one more home playoff game has a massive impact on the entire city in terms of revenue and promoting tourism and interest. That all has a tangible monetary value and while Melo sulking to kill off his coach might not seem like a big deal to you, the businesses that rely on the Knicks and have suffered all these lean years along with the team could really use a team leader actually acting like a leader. There are business owners right now, powerful people, who make decisions everyday that impact their employees and whether those people have jobs and can feed their families. It's not just about lifestyle and bling and rap videos and getting into exclusive clubs and having fancy mink coats like a wannabe gangster thug. It's about understanding that along with the fame and power is a responsibility to your host city and it's people, your fans.

It's not just if you win, it's how you win that makes you a champion. Isn't that what we teach our kids? Or from the Melo lesson here, what exactly is the lesson people should teach their kids? Call me crazy for wanting to be a Knick fan that has players, a team that you don't have to explain away their mother f**king bull**** selfish entitled ball sucking behavior. It would be nice to have players and a team to root for where one didn't have to rationalize a couple of narcissistic idiots who couldn't handle a 23 year old kid being a better leader and franchise player than they were simply because he was willing to work harder and step up.

But why don't we ignore all that. Why don't we ignore having character when winning or taking responsibility for all the good and bad of being a team leader and showing a basic respect for your fans, let's not do that, let's just make another excuse for a selfish player who has never reached his potential because he wanted the lifestyle but not the accountability of being "The Man" on the team. All the praise for Woodson is just a thinly veiled cover up from the fans, press and franchise from telling Melo that being a coach killing dog was a betrayal to his team mates and to the game and to the most dedicated NBA fans in any city on Earth. At what point is someone going to have the balls to tell this diva that the coddling is over, he needs to own up in public for disgracing the Knicks and that he can go f**k himself for doing it.

Yes, Woody was brought here to run the D but at the end of the day the players are playing for the HEAD COACH. Woody has them playing inspired basketball on both ends of the court, period.

Blaming MDA leaving on Melo alone is getting old. None of us are ever going to truly know what the heck happened unless Melo or MDA open up on Center Stage in 10 years.

If you watched the pregame the other night you would have heard Melo telling the reporters that Woody is all over him during film sessions and he's fine with the criticism if it means he can play better ball and get more W's. Does that sound like coddling?

Amazing how a thread on how well the Knicks are playing under Woody turns into another Melo hater thread. Bottom line is MDA is gone and the Knicks are better now that he's gone.

Yup the Knicks went 2-8 in MDA's last 10 all because of Melo. I had no idea that being "the man" meant you hade to guard 5 players on defense and shoot the ball 65+ times a game. Now back to reality and hopefully another win tonight and Saturday.

TripleThreat wrote:People act like Woodson came out of nowhere, it's not like he wasn't there during the losing streak, so what's different? Because if suddenly he's now preaching emphasis on D when he was hired SPECIFICALLY TO RUN THE DEFENSE, what does that say then? The ONLY WAY WOODSON CAN GET CREDIT FOR PUTTING A CURRENT EMPHASIS ON D IS TO DISCREDIT WHATEVER HE WAS DOING BEFORE. Sorry to infuse some logic here. So which is it? Woodson is a good defensive coach and his players or certain players didn't want to buy in? Or Woodson was a lousy defensive coach but suddenly became a good one in the last 5-6 games?

That logic is flawed. His voice wasn't the final voice. He was one of the assistants, and given how often we switched before, he clearly wasn't allowed to implement the defense as he wanted to.

Its just like at work. I have a vision of how things should be, but I have to work with how things are with my boss. Were they fired and I made boss, then yes, things would be the way I wanted them to be from the start...

Its just like at work. I have a vision of how things should be, but I have to work with how things are with my boss. Were they fired and I made boss, then yes, things would be the way I wanted them to be from the start...
[/quote]

mrKnickShot wrote:

BasketballJones wrote:Seems like the emphasis on defense is the key here - or is that too facile an explanation? Keeping the opponent under 90 reminds me of JVG.

Yes! And, I find myself loving and yearning for boring basketball as I did back then.

that's what I've been saying for years... this style of ball is more closely aligned with the NY Knicks brand. I find this much, much easier to cheer and support

TripleThreat wrote:

CashMoney wrote:Woody has them playing inspired basketball on both ends of the court, period.

Bottom line is MDA is gone and the Knicks are better now that he's gone.

No, actually he hasn't. I've got nothing against Mike Woodson personally. It's not his fault he was the third coach in line after Melo's previous run ins with Karl and MDA.

13 guys on that roster were ALREADY FIGHTING HARD and ALREADY PLAYING HARD. 2 guys refused to buy in. "Inspired" would be if Melo and STAT played hard because

1) It's the right thing to do for the team and what it means to be a part of a team
2) It's respecting themselves as professionals
3) It's respecting their team mates
4) It's respecting their franchise
5) It's respecting and taking into consideration the needs and benefits to their host city
6) It's showing awareness that the high profile position means they have to set the right example for kids and other people who admire and look up to them as local heroes.
7) They weren't under the gun as being labeled coach killers or malcontents or ripped apart by the NY media

I've got nothing against Woodson, but I don't understand this approach that he's the next coming of John Wooden because Melo and STAT have NO CHOICE now but to play hard and buy in or face the wrath of the media and their personal brands.

Face it, STAT and Melo are playing harder on D now BECAUSE LIKE A COUPLE OF SPOILED BRATS, THEY THREW A TANTRUM WHEN THEY DIDN'T GET WHAT THEY WANTED AND FINALLY GOT DADDY DOLAN TO GIVE THEM WHAT THEY WANTED SO THEY STOPPED PISSING ALL OVER THE PLACE. But they can't throw a tantrum too often or too loud or too close together in a row. So now they have to tow the line, but given time whats going to stop them from doing it all over again?

And what did they really want? They wanted to kill Linsanity. Let's take a jab at the huge pink elephant in the room. Some 23 year old kid, undrafted and unheralded became the biggest story in sports, was on the cover of SI, was all over the media, was the talk of the town and two prima donna players couldn't handle it. They couldn't handle with their huge egos another guy taking the spotlight. So they killed off the coach, because it was his system that would let the kid continue to draw statistics and attention. They couldn't pick off the kid because he was bulletproof. He said the right things, he left nothing for them to attack or exploit. He was hardworking, he was a good team mate. So they jacked the coach. Even STAT did it, he backstabbed his long time coach because how dare that undrafted Asian kid steal their spotlight? How dare he!

"Bottom Line" is this. The Knicks are winning ball games, but it's still a team of 13 guys fighting hard together and two jackholes only doing as much as it serves their personal interests. That's not how you build a champion. The Knicks will never hold a trophy with a divided team like that.

"Bottom Line" is Melo has the answer he wants. Which is as long as he gets what he wants, he's going to hold back his leaking mangina tantrums. And if the day comes when he doesn't get what he wants? That day, even with MDA gone, is a day Melo will dog it again. And betray his team mates again. And spit on all us fans again.

Man, I want some of that you're smoking. Is that K2 or Killer Buzz?

MarburyAnd1Crossover wrote:Triple Threat with another grand slam. Mad love for the ki'.

that post belongs in the Hall of fame.. all of them.. NBA, NFL, NHL, national tennis association, golf... LOL

TripleThreat wrote:

CashMoney wrote:Woody has them playing inspired basketball on both ends of the court, period.

Bottom line is MDA is gone and the Knicks are better now that he's gone.

No, actually he hasn't. I've got nothing against Mike Woodson personally. It's not his fault he was the third coach in line after Melo's previous run ins with Karl and MDA.

13 guys on that roster were ALREADY FIGHTING HARD and ALREADY PLAYING HARD. 2 guys refused to buy in. "Inspired" would be if Melo and STAT played hard because

1) It's the right thing to do for the team and what it means to be a part of a team
2) It's respecting themselves as professionals
3) It's respecting their team mates
4) It's respecting their franchise
5) It's respecting and taking into consideration the needs and benefits to their host city
6) It's showing awareness that the high profile position means they have to set the right example for kids and other people who admire and look up to them as local heroes.
7) They weren't under the gun as being labeled coach killers or malcontents or ripped apart by the NY media

I've got nothing against Woodson, but I don't understand this approach that he's the next coming of John Wooden because Melo and STAT have NO CHOICE now but to play hard and buy in or face the wrath of the media and their personal brands.

Face it, STAT and Melo are playing harder on D now BECAUSE LIKE A COUPLE OF SPOILED BRATS, THEY THREW A TANTRUM WHEN THEY DIDN'T GET WHAT THEY WANTED AND FINALLY GOT DADDY DOLAN TO GIVE THEM WHAT THEY WANTED SO THEY STOPPED PISSING ALL OVER THE PLACE. But they can't throw a tantrum too often or too loud or too close together in a row. So now they have to tow the line, but given time whats going to stop them from doing it all over again?

And what did they really want? They wanted to kill Linsanity. Let's take a jab at the huge pink elephant in the room. Some 23 year old kid, undrafted and unheralded became the biggest story in sports, was on the cover of SI, was all over the media, was the talk of the town and two prima donna players couldn't handle it. They couldn't handle with their huge egos another guy taking the spotlight. So they killed off the coach, because it was his system that would let the kid continue to draw statistics and attention. They couldn't pick off the kid because he was bulletproof. He said the right things, he left nothing for them to attack or exploit. He was hardworking, he was a good team mate. So they jacked the coach. Even STAT did it, he backstabbed his long time coach because how dare that undrafted Asian kid steal their spotlight? How dare he!

"Bottom Line" is this. The Knicks are winning ball games, but it's still a team of 13 guys fighting hard together and two jackholes only doing as much as it serves their personal interests. That's not how you build a champion. The Knicks will never hold a trophy with a divided team like that.

"Bottom Line" is Melo has the answer he wants. Which is as long as he gets what he wants, he's going to hold back his leaking mangina tantrums. And if the day comes when he doesn't get what he wants? That day, even with MDA gone, is a day Melo will dog it again. And betray his team mates again. And spit on all us fans again.

just tell me where to send the checks for saving me all of this time.. from now on, when it comes to this topic.. I won't need to post at all.. You are spot on.... Great work....