Mike D’Antoni looks back at his time with the New York Knicks – NBA Update
"It was an experience. I've got the wounds to show it. But I'm a big boy. I can handle it,"
Mike D'Antoni said when asked about his time at the New York Knicks on the "Mason and Ireland" show on ESPNLA 710 Tuesday afternoon.
The statement pretty much sums up the memories D’Antoni has of his time at the Big Apple.
D’Antoni started off pretty well at the Knicks, but he never got a decent enough point guard to run the show. Raymond Felton showed some promise but was traded when at his peak. D’Antoni still managed though, and with Amare’ Stoudemire
as the ace, he managed to have a great campaign at the start of 2010-11 season.
In the middle of that season though, the Knicks welcomed star forward Carmelo Anthony and all of a sudden the expectations from the team mounted significantly, and so did the pressure to perform.
"We did have prior circumstances, no practices, people playing tired or hurt, a brand new team coming together and they want you to win a championship. So that creates a lot of pressure.”
The Knicks never delivered though. Melo never merged into the team philosophy, and bend his shoot first think later mentality. That naturally meant trouble for Mike, especially because Stoudemire, now playing deep in the paint,
could not get the ball as much as he would have liked or got earlier.
All of a sudden, the Knicks started going downhill and to make the matters worse, injuries started to creep in. The team still managed to squeak into the playoffs that season, only to be swept by the Boston Celtics in the first
round.
After some major disappointments in 10-11, D’Antoni and Knicks aimed to start afresh last season, which was reduced to 66 games due to the NBA lockout. But, things never worked out and after Jeremy Lin announced himself on the
big stage with a bang, the pressure only increased.
D’Antoni recalled all that;
"Then you throw on top of that Linsanity and having that as, not a distraction but a great thing, but having to deal with it. It got to a point where I felt the team and the players were served best if I removed a little bit of
an obstacle and put some pressure on players to play hard and bring 'em together and they didn't.”
D’Antoni eventually decided to quit his post and Mike Woodson, his assistant, was promoted as the head coach. The results were immediate. Carmelo looked more settled under Brown, and despite the injury issues, New York managed
to impress late last season. They lost out in the first round of the playoffs again, to the eventual champions Miami Heat, but have been sensational so far this season, and have won all of their five games.
And guess what D’Antoni wishes them all the best.
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