D'Antoni Did The Right Thing

Mike D'Antoni knew his time was up in New York.  The Knicks had lost 6 games in a row.  They were falling out of the playoff standings, and the player-coach relationship was not there.  Carmelo Anthony was opening his mouth,  and D'Antoni was firing back.  On Wednesday, D'Antoni called it quits.

The Knicks have underachieved for the most part of the 2011-2012 season.  They started the season 8-15 before Jeremy Lin came in and took over as point guard.  They would then win their next seven games in a row during Lin-sanity.  The Knicks would then start to struggled once Carmelo Anthony returned from injury.  The style of play had changed completely and the team had no chemistry.  D'Antoni clearly had trouble working with the new offense and it showed in their play.

Now, assistant coach Mike Woodson takes over for the rest of the season and Woodson know what he has to do with this team.  It all starts with Stat and Melo.  Amare Stoudemire has been nowhere near what he was last year and it is time for him to be more aggressive and look for his shot more.  Jeremy Lin can take less shots and the Knicks can move the ball more.  Woodson knows exactly what this team has to do to win games.  Woodson has been there and in the playoffs before.  He is a defensive-minded coach, something that the Knicks lacked with D'Antoni.

The Knicks needed a change and they needed it quick.  Mike Woodson is going to send this team in the right direction the rest of the way and help the Knicks get back to the playoffs.  We are going to see the Knicks playing hard-nosed basketball the rest of the season headed into the playoffs.  The talent is there for the Knicks to get to the playoffs and to make noise in the playoffs.  With 23 games remaining and the Knicks tied for the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference, there is still time for the Knicks to get back to the team we saw in February that had Madison Square Garden going Lin-sane and ticket prices off the charts.