NEW YORK — When you are playing devil’s advocate and you cannot even get through a devil’s advocate question, you know you have struck a nerve.
Especially if the subject of your line of questioning immediately goes on the defensive the way Knicks coach Mike Woodson did Sunday afternoon when I tried to play devil’s advocate in the interview room.‘
This could be a column giving credit to LeBron James – especially on the defensive end – and his teammates on the Miami Heat, who came back from a 16-point deficit to defeat the New York Knicks 99-93 on Sunday, avenging a pair of 20-point defeats earlier this season.
This column is about blame.
Not shame, mind you, just blame.
Because Mike Woodson is the coach of the New York Knicks, and he is entitled to decide who plays and who sits, based on what he feels is best.
And on Sunday, Woody chose to sit Amar’e Stoudemire for the final 7:56, removing a player who should be one of his primary offensive weapons, explaining that he wanted to match up better with the small lineup Miami was using.
Stoudemire had a very nice seat for the rest of the ballgame, watching the Heat outscore the Knicks, 16-11, the rest of the way as New York’s offense consisted of too many turnovers, too many chucks from J.R. Smith (3-of-14 on 3s) and not enough of anything from Carmelo Anthony (24 first-half points, then just four in both the third and fourth quarters against the stifling defense of James).
The one advantage the Knicks have over the Heat is size. In fact, it was accumulating as much size as possible that was the foundation of Glen Grunwald’s rebuilding effort last summer, when he put together a roster with one thought in mind – build a team that can beat the Heat.
But what did Woodson do with that edge?
He benched it, which was a mistake.
“At that particular time I didn’t (re-insert Stoudemire) because they were small, and I went with Tyson against (Chris) Bosh, and they played small around Bosh, so we just tried to keep the matchup,” Woodson explained.
To which I followed up, prefacing the question by asking Woodson to elaborate why Stoudemire wasn’t the right fit. (No, I am not a coach. But I have heard enough coaches explain that you should always try to play to your team’s strength and assert your will rather than coach reactively.)
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In other words, if you’ve got a big guy making $20 million who poses a matchup problem for Miami when playing alongside Chandler, choice No. 1 should be to exploit that advantage.
“I’m not saying he’s not a good fit, I’m just saying that’s the way I decided to go because they were small,” Woodson said.
Woodson is playing favorites. You can’t coach like that. He let Kidd start too long, he continues to play J.R. down the stretch when he’s not producing, and leaves Amare on the bench because he loves Melo and thinks he can carry the team alone. It’s going to get him fired.
I agree, Coach Woodson allowed himself to be dictated to. To be honest though most of the NBA has allowed Miami to determine what style of play will be utilized. Remember the new All Star balloting where the center position has been removed. Kudos to Pat Riley.
I agree with you Chris. The Knicks had this game but eventually gave it away due to poor decision making. JR Chucker had no business hoisting 14 3-pointers when he is not even known to be a prolific 3-point shooter like Novak, who by the way was useless. He gets paid 4 million a year to be a great shooter and half of the time goes scoreless because teams know that when you take away his ability to shoot threes, he will be ineffective the entire game plus you can blow by him because he can’t defend.
Thank you Sheridan for writing an article about who should get the ultimate blame for the Knicls loss, the coach. Woodson was exposed on national television for the issue that has lingered all season long; his inability to make the right adjustments to help us win and his extreme stubborness when it comes to admitting when the losses are his fault. He always tries to throw the players under the bus. Stoudemire had no business being benched for the final 7:56 left in the game. JR should have been benched at some point. It was evident that Martin should have played because he is a good defender and shot blocker. Copeland should have played because he is a spark plug and has no fear making shots and plays to his strengths. As far as I’m concerned, if New York finishes the regular season lower than a 3 seed and don’t get out if the first round, Woodson should be fired along with good buddy Grunwald who decided make the Knicks the oldest team in the NBA.
Totally agree with Rad. I could not understand why Amare was benched when we needed his size and scoring ability. Also I am too tired of hearing that Melo and Amare cant play together. Did you notice how Melo was passing to Amare and Amare was scoring. They were operating nicely together at one point. Also why sign Kenyon Martin to ride the bench, I thought for sure we would have seen him play Sunday. Miami is a dominant team but the Knicks should have won that game It is Woodson’s fault hands down. They shoud have traded Novak and kept Brewer, at least he could defend.Novak is useless unless left totally unguarded which will not happen anymore with any team.
Chris, I couldn’t agree with you more about Woodson not playing Stoudemire enough. Woodson has stated that he’s still figuring out rotations, but some things are just common sense: You take advantage of an enemies weakness.
But, I would like your opinion on something else. Namely, I want to talk about this game was just as much about the Knicks giving it away, as it was about Miami taking the game. Unforced turnovers, JR Smith turning in a stinker of a game, the whole team shooting too many 3’s, all did us in. Yet, the game was still close at the end.
You may think that I’m on crack…but I don’t know how the heat are feeling too good/confident about this win. In my opinion it seemed that Knicks gave this one away much more so than Miami just taking it. Unforced turnovers. Just AWFUL possessions and shot selections, and an abomination of a game from JR Smith.
I take a few of positives from this game. Just need to finish.