“It was a coach’s decision, so I just wait to get the call. I’m ready,” said Stoudemire, who remains on a minutes restriction of 30 that he would have surpassed by a grand total of 6 seconds had he played the entire fourth quarter.
So after an ‘L’ in Game 56, here’s what the Knicks walk away with:
- Renewed confidence in Jason Kidd, who broke out of a horrendous slump that cost him his starting spot. Kidd had 14 points, went 4-for-5 on 3-pointers and added eight rebounds, six assists and three steals. He spent most of his 34 1/2 minutes playing alongside Raymond Felton, and the Knicks were at their best when Kidd was doing it all in the first half.
- More questions about who should be in the starting lineup. Predictably (ask Marc Berman), James White drew three fouls in the first 4 1/2 minutes and contributed about as much as DNPs Kenyon Martin, Marcus Camby, Pablo Prigioni and Kurt Thomas put together. As my high school Greek teacher Doug Tobin used to tell me after a mistake on one of his hit-or-miss quizzes … “Zippiddy-doo, Sheri-poo.”
- An even bigger question over whether Woodson has the confidence to turn to Stoudemire when he needs crunch time points. Of the Knicks’ 17 possessions after Stoudemire was subbed out, they were 4-for-12 with two free throws and four turnovers. They remained stuck on 87 points from the 6:20 mark until the 3:09 mark, and their final chance was thrown away – literally – when Smith made a bad pass with 25.8 seconds left that James turned into a steal (his third) and dunk for a six-point lead.
- A seven-game deficit in the loss column (which would have been five had they won) that ends whatever remote hope New York may have had of catching a Miami team that has never been quite this dominant during the Wade-James-Bosh era.
New York should still finish the regular season with the No. 2 or No. 3 seed in the East, which means Miami won’t be playing at Madison Square Garden again – if at all – until Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals.
But in order for New York to make it that far, Woodson had to figure out one overriding thing …
Is he going to play to the strengths of his roster?
Or is he merely going to react to the way his counterpart is coaching?
If it is the latter, the Knicks won’t have to worry about the Heat in the Eastern Conference finals. They’ll have gone fishing by then.
Chris Sheridan, a 20-year veteran basketball journalist, is publisher and editor in chief of SheridanHoops.com. Follow him on Twitter.
Pages: 1 2
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.