Does New York Knicks Head Coach Mike D'Antoni Deserve To Be in the Hot Seat?

After Monday evening’s disappointing 96-86 loss to the Boston Celtics at Madison Square Garden, the New York Knicks dropped to 7-9 and 35-35 overall since the acquisition of Carmelo Anthony.

During this span, the Knicks have fallen to vastly inferior teams, including the Cleveland Cavaliers (twice), the worst team in the NBA, the Indiana Pacers (twice), the Detroit Pistons and the Milwaukee Bucks.

New York’s latest defeat came at the hands of a team tied for the best record in the Eastern Conference, who overcame a nine-point deficit with seven minutes left in the game to deal the Knicks their third consecutive loss.

In the aftermath, as is always the case in the Big Apple pressure cooker, fans, reporters and talk show radio hosts alike have congregated to commence a witch hunt, with head coach Mike D’Antoni winning by a landslide as the object of their contempt.

This is the same Mike D’Antoni who was asked to take over the reins of a team expected to be cellar dwellers, until the salary cap mess created by the previous regime was cleaned up. Now that he’s just been given some of the tools he needs to succeed, there are already calls for his job.

Can it be called justice when D’Antoni is being labeled the scapegoat for the slow adjustment to a blockbuster trade that shook up the majority of his starting rotation? Likewise, can a guilty verdict has been rendered when he’s had less than a quarter of a season to have everything running like a well-oiled machine?

The answers to these questions should be a resounding “No,” but the New York sports arena can oftentimes be an unforgiving place.

So instead of excitement building for the Knicks’ first playoff appearance in six years, the focus has become whether D’Antoni is the right man for the job.

With 12 games left in the season, New York has more victories than the team has averaged in the last nine (31) and are on the cusp of their first non-losing season since 2001.

Nevertheless, all that can be heard is grumbling and murmuring throughout the city about D’Antoni, whose first two seasons should really be considered a wash for all intents and purposes.

Championships aren’t won, and dynasties aren’t built, in 16 games.

Patrick Ewing’s great run with the Knicks didn’t begin until his third season, Kobe Bryant didn’t win his first ring until his fourth and it took Michael Jordan seven seasons before he could finally wrap his arms around the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy.

By all accounts, the Knicks are still an unfinished project because, although Amar’e Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony form a superlative foundation, even more pieces need to be added before the team truly becomes a viable championship contender.

Until they do, anyone clamoring for D’Antoni’s firing at the end of the season should be ashamed.

The Knicks are in a state of flux, and D’Antoni deserves a stable nucleus to work with, for a significant period of time, before any aspersions are cast.

Click here to read the original article at SportsHaze.com.

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The Most Important Lesson NY Knicks Should Have Learned from NBA Finals

As Game 7 of the 2010 NBA Finals drew to a close and the Los Angeles Lakers celebrated a second consecutive NBA Championship, if the coaching staff and front office of the New York Knicks were paying close attention they would have been smacked in the face by the stark reality of the necessary components required to build a championship team.

In spite of dramatic changes to the way the game is played in this era, one of the oldest clichés in the National Basketball Association is as true today as it was fifty years ago; defense and rebounding do win championships.

So with the full court press being drawn up in the huddle to be put on LeBron James come July 1, the Knicks brain trust should be equally focused on ensuring the squad they plan on putting together is fully committed to playing hard-nosed, team-oriented defense as well as capable and willing to do battle underneath the boards.

And for any team this championship philosophy all begins and ends with the head coach; in this case, Mike D’Antoni.

After six years with the Phoenix Suns, in which he averaged 51 victories per season, D’Antoni was brought to the Big Apple, at the insistence of Knicks President of Basketball Operations Donnie Walsh, as the first step in the initiative to resurrect one of the marquee franchises in the league.

However, although this was widely viewed as a step in the right direction, D’Antoni’s success in the ‘Land of the Rising Sun’ belied his shortcomings when it came to emphasizing the merits of rebounding combined with solid team defense. And this glaring oversight not only showed up statistically, it reared its ugly head in the playoffs as well.

For D’Antoni’s entire tenure with the team, although they were an offensive juggernaut, Phoenix consistently ranked in the bottom third of the NBA in opponent points per game and opponent rebounds per game; which ultimately resulted in repeated failures to make a single appearance in the Finals.

It has only gotten worse in his two seasons with New York, where the D’Antoni-led Knicks have finished in the bottom third of the NBA in opponent points per game, opponent field goal percentage per game and opponent rebounds per game.

So it goes without saying that D’Antoni absolutely must place more of an emphasis on defense and rebounding because the last time the Knicks were the toast of the town, particularly in the Pat Riley era, they happened to be one of the best defensive teams in the league.

But for this re-construction to come to fruition, Donnie Walsh must also put on his hard hat and get D’Antoni the pieces he needs to build a winning tradition in New York again.

Acquiring a wing player of LeBron James’ caliber is a terrific start, but without a front line to do the dirty work signing James won’t mean a thing in the long run.

With 6’9” All-Star David Lee, the Knicks’ starting center last season, probably headed to seemingly greener pastures, Walsh must also be prepared to make strong offers to the likes of Miami Heat free agent power forward Udonis Haslem and Dallas Mavericks free agent center Brendan Haywood, who are the type of players who don’t need to score but will bring toughness and the other necessary intangibles on the defensive end of the floor to the table.

In Game 7 of the this year’s Finals, the Lakers held the Boston Celtics to 79 points, 40.8% shooting and outrebounded Gang Green 53-40; and that’s because Los Angeles was longer, stronger and tougher up front and fully committed to playing great team defense.

This is how the Knicks made it to the Finals in 1994 and this is how they will make it to the Finals again nearly twenty years later.

Click here to read the original article on Examiner.com, which includes relevant links and a special 'Defense Wins Championships' video presentation.

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