NEW YORK -- After I informed George Karl of the blasphemous statement Mike D'Antoni had just made in his postgame news conference, the coach of the Denver Nuggets smiled even wider than I did when I heard it. And my delivery wasn't nearly as smooth as D'Antoni's.
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| 'We've got to play better defense, there's no doubt about it,' Mike D'Antoni says. (Getty Images) |
"I feel for him," Karl said after the Nuggets escaped the dreaded matinee at Madison Square Garden with a 117-110 victory over the Knicks. "My feeling is, when you give up a lot of points, nobody's going to think you're defending. Last year in our halfcourt defense, we were a pretty good defensive team. But no one would ever write that, because we were awful in transition and we were awful in giving up a lot of numbers. So I don't know that anybody is ever going to give the due."
On the cusp of the 30-game mark in D'Antoni's first year in New York, the Knicks (11-18) are a far cry from the hardnosed, defensive-minded teams that had so much success in the 1990s. They also are nothing at all like the meandering teams that occupied basketball's most famous venue for all the years since -- bumbling along with no apparent plan other than spending money and committing the worst sin of all: failing to entertain.
The Knicks are nothing if not entertaining. For the first time in years, they inspire curiosity for the right reasons. The last vestige of the previous failed regime, Stephon Marbury, is enjoying a paid vacation until after New Year's, when buyout talks will crank up again. Other than that, the Knicks are embroiled in the most drama-free six-game losing streak in their recent history. The Knicks are still losing, but who cares? Can't you see the future?
Karl can. The first difference he noticed in watching film of D'Antoni's Knicks is how frustrating they are to play. He noticed upon personal inspection that the energy has returned to the building, too. And it was nothing like the sky-is-falling drama that Karl remembers from past visits, such as the one marred by the infamous brawl between the Knicks and Nuggets two years ago.
"You can't grow or build without a positive belief that this is going to be better in a year or three years," Karl said.
As I spoke with Karl in the hallway after the game, he shook hands with someone named Isiah. If this Isiah had been 3½ feet taller and in the basketball Hall of Fame, I would've had quite a story. But this was not Karl's nemesis, Isiah Thomas, who instigated that brawl by daring Carmelo Anthony to take the ball to the basket at the end of another lopsided Knicks loss in 2006. This was a young fan wearing a Knicks jersey. What a concept.
There is reason to root for this team again, reason to hope. Many believe this is because of the future plans of a certain MVP candidate who wears No. 23 in Cleveland. In reality, it all emanates from a regular-looking guy with salt-and-pepper hair and a mustache, stomping around on the sideline in an expensive Italian suit and flashing indecipherable hand signals.
"Mike is an interesting hire," Karl said. "My recollection of New York is the city game, the street game, the playground game. And he plays as fast and free as any coach I've ever played against. I know the Knick (teams) have been based on defense. But I was kidding with one of my assistants that I would like to see Mike D'Antoni get a Carolina or Kentucky or Kansas job, because people don't think (his style) can win. People don't think it can win championships. And I think that's crazy.
"I think if you get the best players," Karl said, "this style will be incredibly difficult to play against –- impossible, maybe, to play against. But we have so many experts who think that you have to play defense, you have to rebound, you have to be a possession coach, you have to execute. I just laugh. Explosive offense is not as intimidating as dominant defense. But it is scary when you don't know how to stop someone."
The Pistons and Spurs have lived off a defense-first mentality for years. The same mentality won a championship for the Celtics last season and has the Cavaliers looking like worthy challengers. Given the trend, D'Antoni's intentional departure from this approach would seem to be suicidal. Maybe that is why D'Antoni made a point of inserting defense into the conversation after the game even though he wasn't asked about it. If the Knicks continue to drift further out of playoff contention, D'Antoni knows the daggers will be aimed squarely at his biggest perceived weakness.
"We've got to play better defense, there's no doubt about it," D'Antoni said. "I know I joke around a lot about it, but the only way we're going to win is get better at it. I've always felt like we're going to score no matter what. I don't care who's out on the floor, we're going to score. So now we've just got to find a way to stop people. And we have to continue to get better at it."
