duncan228
02-17-2009, 02:58 AM
B'Antoni — this time, escape into New York (http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/spurs/BAntoni__this_time_escape_into_New_York.html)
Buck Harvey
NEW YORK — Mike D’Antoni faces his tormentors again tonight, and he shouldn’t react to them as the city of Phoenix did this past weekend.
Instead of booing them, he should embrace them.
He should thank them, too. Because if Tim Duncan hadn’t tossed in his only 3-pointer since 2007 without Becky Hammon and David Robinson standing next to him, and if the Suns had finally beaten their tormentors, then D’Antoni wouldn’t have escaped the madness.
As it is?
D’Antoni is coaching the same way — but he’s richer, more secure and not Terry Porter.
Being in Phoenix right now is like riding in the back seat of a car, helpless, while the driver goes about 55 miles over the speed limit. Jason Richardson’s 3-year-old knows the feeling.
Last week the Suns did this on the All-Star stage. Then, amid the usual trade talk that tears at the franchise, various media outlets reported Porter would be fired. The Suns forgot to tell Porter.
Usually these things happen on the back pages of the New York newspapers. But D’Antoni has everything in reverse, all because of who he followed. Isiah the terrible.
D’Antoni is already within two wins of last year’s total. That means he can do what he did last week and not become the tabloid dunce.
Then, in Portland, the Knicks had a 1-point lead. There were 4.3 seconds left when Brandon Roy took an in-bounds pass, sliced through three Knicks and scored at the buzzer.
The detail that would not shock the Spurs: D’Antoni had forgotten the Knicks had a foul to give.
The loss is one of six in a row, making for the league’s longest current losing streak. The Knicks are 10 games below .500, and they still have the NBA’s highest payroll.
They have given up a Garden record 61 points to Kobe Bryant, followed by 52 to LeBron James, and that’s the D’Antoni pattern. At the end of last season the Spurs had trouble scoring 80 points in a lot of games, and in the playoffs Duncan went for 40 and Tony Parker 41.
But that’s the beauty of the relocated D’Antoni. The New York Daily News, giving grades at the All-Star break, rewarded D’Antoni with a “B.”
Call him B’Antoni. Phoenix does now.
“Mike D’Antoni never looked so good,” wrote an Arizona columnist in Monday’s editions.
D’Antoni prefers not to detail his good fortune. He’s got a four-year, $24 million contract, as well as a seasoned, reasonable general manager in Donnie Walsh. So why not emphasize that instead of criticizing the Suns?
“I like New York,” he said Monday with an on-the-record comment that suggested he doesn’t like a few things in Phoenix.
He probably likes lower expectations, too. A year ago, after all, the Suns had the league’s best record.
The Spurs came in about that time, during Super Bowl week in Arizona. They didn’t have Parker, and they had just lost to the Sonics. But Manu Ginobili scored all of his points in a grinding second half, and the Spurs did to the Suns what they seemingly always do.
The loss confirmed everything to Steve Kerr; the Suns would never be good enough with what they had. The Suns then traded Shawn Marion, along with who they were, for Shaquille O’Neal.
It’s forgotten now, but D’Antoni was an advocate of the trade, as well as other questionable personnel decisions. After Robert Sarver pushed out Bryan Colangelo and before Kerr arrived, Sarver gave a lot of power to D’Antoni.
So D’Antoni was never blameless, and he wasn’t with a roster that often cracked under pressure. His players followed the lead of a coach who couldn’t remember the defensive basics in Portland, and the infamous Game 1 last spring outlined that.
Then, at the end of regulation, with the Spurs needing a 3-pointer, Amare Stoudemire didn’t switch. Michael Finley sent the game to overtime.
Still, even after that, everything was still possible for the Suns at the end of the first overtime. They had lost double-digit leads, and they had left Finley, and yet they had the lead again.
And had the Suns finally broken through? Even if the Suns had gone on to lose to the Hornets in the next round, maybe all of them would have been satisfied enough to stay together another season. They would have beaten their tormentors, after all.
Instead, Duncan took Ginobili’s pass, and he answered the Spurs’ prayers.
As well as D’Antoni’s.
Buck Harvey
NEW YORK — Mike D’Antoni faces his tormentors again tonight, and he shouldn’t react to them as the city of Phoenix did this past weekend.
Instead of booing them, he should embrace them.
He should thank them, too. Because if Tim Duncan hadn’t tossed in his only 3-pointer since 2007 without Becky Hammon and David Robinson standing next to him, and if the Suns had finally beaten their tormentors, then D’Antoni wouldn’t have escaped the madness.
As it is?
D’Antoni is coaching the same way — but he’s richer, more secure and not Terry Porter.
Being in Phoenix right now is like riding in the back seat of a car, helpless, while the driver goes about 55 miles over the speed limit. Jason Richardson’s 3-year-old knows the feeling.
Last week the Suns did this on the All-Star stage. Then, amid the usual trade talk that tears at the franchise, various media outlets reported Porter would be fired. The Suns forgot to tell Porter.
Usually these things happen on the back pages of the New York newspapers. But D’Antoni has everything in reverse, all because of who he followed. Isiah the terrible.
D’Antoni is already within two wins of last year’s total. That means he can do what he did last week and not become the tabloid dunce.
Then, in Portland, the Knicks had a 1-point lead. There were 4.3 seconds left when Brandon Roy took an in-bounds pass, sliced through three Knicks and scored at the buzzer.
The detail that would not shock the Spurs: D’Antoni had forgotten the Knicks had a foul to give.
The loss is one of six in a row, making for the league’s longest current losing streak. The Knicks are 10 games below .500, and they still have the NBA’s highest payroll.
They have given up a Garden record 61 points to Kobe Bryant, followed by 52 to LeBron James, and that’s the D’Antoni pattern. At the end of last season the Spurs had trouble scoring 80 points in a lot of games, and in the playoffs Duncan went for 40 and Tony Parker 41.
But that’s the beauty of the relocated D’Antoni. The New York Daily News, giving grades at the All-Star break, rewarded D’Antoni with a “B.”
Call him B’Antoni. Phoenix does now.
“Mike D’Antoni never looked so good,” wrote an Arizona columnist in Monday’s editions.
D’Antoni prefers not to detail his good fortune. He’s got a four-year, $24 million contract, as well as a seasoned, reasonable general manager in Donnie Walsh. So why not emphasize that instead of criticizing the Suns?
“I like New York,” he said Monday with an on-the-record comment that suggested he doesn’t like a few things in Phoenix.
He probably likes lower expectations, too. A year ago, after all, the Suns had the league’s best record.
The Spurs came in about that time, during Super Bowl week in Arizona. They didn’t have Parker, and they had just lost to the Sonics. But Manu Ginobili scored all of his points in a grinding second half, and the Spurs did to the Suns what they seemingly always do.
The loss confirmed everything to Steve Kerr; the Suns would never be good enough with what they had. The Suns then traded Shawn Marion, along with who they were, for Shaquille O’Neal.
It’s forgotten now, but D’Antoni was an advocate of the trade, as well as other questionable personnel decisions. After Robert Sarver pushed out Bryan Colangelo and before Kerr arrived, Sarver gave a lot of power to D’Antoni.
So D’Antoni was never blameless, and he wasn’t with a roster that often cracked under pressure. His players followed the lead of a coach who couldn’t remember the defensive basics in Portland, and the infamous Game 1 last spring outlined that.
Then, at the end of regulation, with the Spurs needing a 3-pointer, Amare Stoudemire didn’t switch. Michael Finley sent the game to overtime.
Still, even after that, everything was still possible for the Suns at the end of the first overtime. They had lost double-digit leads, and they had left Finley, and yet they had the lead again.
And had the Suns finally broken through? Even if the Suns had gone on to lose to the Hornets in the next round, maybe all of them would have been satisfied enough to stay together another season. They would have beaten their tormentors, after all.
Instead, Duncan took Ginobili’s pass, and he answered the Spurs’ prayers.
As well as D’Antoni’s.