Coach D’Antoni Needs To Go

Flashy Offense

There is no denying that Mike D’Antoni’s fast paced offense is fun to watch. Averaging over one hundred points a game year after year with quick, long range 3s and run and gun passing is going to draw in crowds. His Suns teams between 2004 and 2008, the four years D’Antoni was coach the whole season, won at least 50 wins all four years and at least 60 in two of those seasons. He won NBA Coach of the Year his first season as head coach of the Suns and the team made it to the Western Conference finals twice during his reign in Phoenix. His “7 seconds or less” offense, referring to his preference of having his team shoot no later than 7 seconds into the 24 second shot clock, in Phoenix became a 
phenomenon throughout the country. This year’s Knicks team averaged 106.5 points per game, 2nd in the NBA.

Invisible Defense

As fun as D’Antoni’s offense is to watch, there is a reason, despite having such great teams in Phoenix, they never made it to the NBA Finals. Although averaging well over one hundred points on offense seems like a recipe for success, that is not the case. Unfortunately for D’Antoni there is another side to the ball and that is on the defensive end. Throughout his tenure in the desert, the Suns continually finished in the bottom 10 in opponents points per game. The year D’Antoni won Coach of the Year the team was last in the NBA in opponents points per game, giving up an average of over 103 points. This year’s Knicks team gave up an average of 105.7 points per game, good for 28th in the league.

Defense Wins Championships

Defense wins championships. It is an old adage that is generally accepted. A team that is great defensively and decent offensively is better off in the playoffs than a team playing the other way around. Why is that? When is comes down to the wire, great defense will almost always win over great offense, there are always those generational players who are exceptions to this on the offensive end, but for the most part it holds. You are not going up against lottery bound teams that finished in the cellar of the standings. These are teams that have proven they belong.

Don’t believe the whole defense wins championships thing? Take a look at the last decade. Since the 1999-2000 season, eight of the NBA champions finished in the top 10 in points allowed per game during the regular season. Three of those years the champion was first in the league in that category (Pistons in ’03-’04, Spurs in ’04-’05 and ’06-’07) while the Celtics were second in 2007-2008, finishing just .2 points from first. But even the rankings of the team’s defense may not tell the whole story. During the 2000-2001 season, the middle of the Lakers 3-peat, the team was 23rd in the NBA in opponents points per game out of 29 teams. Pretty bad right? Not exactly because even though they were 23rd, they still averaged giving up just 97.2 per game. In comparison, the 23rd ranked defense during the 2010-2011 season was Cleveland who gave up 104.5 points a game. In ranking the Lakers’ defense in ’00-’01 to the teams in the ’10-’11 season, they would have finished 11th. So although the Lakers finished in the bottom 10 that year, it is better explained that the league focused on defense as opposed to the Lakers not focusing on defense at all this year.

Despite this evidence, Mike D’Antoni refuses to adjust his strategy to adapt to the league. The numbers are misleading because although it seems like he is a great coach because of the numbers his teams put up on offense, the defensive numbers are often overlooked but arguably more important.

Taking D’Antoni’s Side

A lot of people make the argument for taking Mike D’Antoni’s side because of what he has had to work with in New York. This year alone he essentially had to coach two different teams, before and after the Carmelo Anthony trade, in each half of the season. In the two years prior to that he was coaching replacement players who were only on the team because of expiring contracts. It hasn’t been an easy road for Mike D’Antoni in New York and I am not hating on him because this. I understand that he has really only been coaching the “real” Knicks for the second half of the season. I am hating on him because his system does not work and he does not seem to realize that.

Decision Making and Defense Losing Games

In addition to his lack of a defensive mentality, Mike D’Antoni has trouble making adjustments and calling plays during important games. Since the 2011 playoff series sweep by the Boston Celtics is still fresh in my mind, let’s break down how Celtics’ coach Doc Rivers flat out out coached D’Antoni and how a lack of defensive intensity costed the Knicks multiple games.

In Game 1 the Knicks are up three with 37 seconds left and Boston in possession of the ball. With the Celtics inbounding on the offensive end coming out of a timeout, Boston guard Rajon Rondo took the ball out of bounds and the play was run with Celtics’ forward Kevin Garnett eventually becoming wide open underneath the basket for an easy alley-oop that took less than a second off the clock. Later in the 4th, with the Knicks up one with 21 seconds left Celtics’ forward Paul Pierce was dribbling the ball at the top of the key as Ray Allen came over to set a pick and then slipped to the 3-point line. With Carmelo Anthony guarding Pierce and Toney Douglas guarding Allen, both Knicks defenders got caught trying to stay on Pierce as Allen, the NBA’s ALL TIME LEADING 3-POINT SHOOTER, received the ball and hit a relatively uncontested 3-pointer to put the Celtics up two. Here, a lack of discipline on defense helped lose the game for the Knicks. 

But defense was not the only thing that lost this game. Knicks’ forward Amar’e Stoudemire had the hot hand in this game. He finished with 28 points on 12-18 shooting, but surprisingly did not take a single shot with under 2 minutes left in the game. Instead, with the game on the line, the ball went to Carmelo Anthony who finished the game 5-18 shooting and had two offensive fouls and two missed 3-pointers with under 2 minutes left in the game. If Mike D’Antoni knew what he was doing, he would have known which of his 2 superstars had the hot hand and which was struggling under the pressure of Boston’s D.

In Game 2, Carmelo Anthony was having the game of his life. With both Amar’e Stoudemire and Chancey Billups sitting the end of the game with injuries, it was Melo’s time to prove that he belonged in New York. He was on fire that game, finishing with 42 points. However, the game remained close until the end. With the Knicks down one with 13 seconds left, the Knicks came out of a timeout ready to win the game. Carmelo Anthony received the ball and was met with a double team out at the 3-point line. So he gave the ball up to the open player whose defender was doubling, Jared Jeffries, who subsequently caught the ball next to the basket, pivoted into Kevin Garnett instead of away from him and got his pass deflected and stolen. Having Jared Jeffries in the game at this time shows D’Antoni’s poor decision making skills. Jeffries is not an offensive threat in the least and thus allows an easier double team on Melo. Instead of Jeffries, Shawne Williams would have been a much better option as he is a 3-point threat who can take advantage of an open opportunity if his man leaves to double team. If his defender does not double team because he does not want to leave Williams open then Melo is left one-on-one.

In Games 3 and 4 in Madison Square Garden the Knicks, for all intents and purposes, got beaten down in every sense. Short of Anthony Carter stepping it up in Game 4, ON THE DEFENSIVE END, and almost singly handedly cutting a 20 point deficit to 4, the Knicks were embarrassed. The comeback overshadowed the fact that the Knicks were both out played and out coached.

Options

There are plenty of options for the Knicks to fix this problem, both in keeping and getting rid of D’Antoni. If they want to keep Mike D’Antoni they can get a defensive minded assistant coach to help turn this team around on that end. Mike Brown, the former head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers, comes to mind. Much like Tom Thibodeau did in Boston as an assistant under Doc Rivers, Mike Brown can head the defense and get them talking, rotating, and guarding like they have never done before. This, however, is something D’Antoni has refused to do because it would undermine himself as head coach and his two favorite assistant coach; Dan D’Antoni, his brother, and Phil Weber.

If D’Antoni is not open to this, he can go. There are plenty of options out there to replace him. Starting with the man who out coached him in the playoffs. Doc Rivers may leave Boston after this year to watch his son, Austin, play at Duke. If he leaves he may get the itch again and decide to come back where I am sure he would be welcomed in New York. It is the same situation with now Lakers coach Phil Jackson who said he is going to retire after this year, but the idea of coaching to superstars again (Jordan/Pippen, Kobe/Shaq) may lure him to the Big Apple. If those coaches do not work out, Rick Adelman, who is not returning to Houston this year, and Stan Van Gundy, if the Magic decide to let him go, are also both very viable options and who are better coaches than D’Antoni. Adelman coached the great Sacramento Kings team of the early 2000s that gave the dynasty Lakers a run for their money every year and Stan Van Gundy is just two years removed from coaching in the NBA Finals.

Regardless of what happens, something has to change and it seems that D’Antoni can choose to stay and make proper changes or he can be forced out by the hateful chants at MSG when the Knicks fans realize that he cannot take them to the promised land.

Statistics courtesy of espn.com