Veteran guard Larry Hughes, back in coach Mike D’Antoni’s doghouse, questioned the coach’s methods, his poor communication skills and taking him out of the rotation for the third time this season, saying it’s “getting old” and calling it “mind games.”
Nate Robinson’s gain was Hughes’ loss and he was a DNP for the second straight game and perhaps for a while.
“It’s not a good way to play the season going back and forth,” Hughes said after the Knicks destroyed the Pacers, 132-89, last night at the Garden. “This is my third time now. It’s getting old.
“I’m really over it, the mind games,” said Hughes, the Knicks’ highest-paid player at $13.9 million. “I’m getting up there in years. I’m over it.”
Ticking off Hughes is not the best idea since he has LeBron James’ ear as their families are close.
Hughes was out of the rotation after a terrible preseason, but got back in during the first week. When Robinson got demoted, Hughes became an integral part. But since Hughes returned from a groin injury he struggled in a more limited role and D’Antoni moved back to Robinson. In the past four games before the yanking, Hughes shot 1 of 16, but played a reduced 13½ minutes per game.
“Since I got injured, now I’m not,” Hughes said. “There’s an unwritten rule in this league, you don’t lose your spot coming back from injury.
“I wasn’t playing much when I did come back. It’s on paper. You can look at it.”
Hughes’ remarks appear ill-timed because they’ve won twice, but his biggest beef is D’Antoni not sitting down with him to explain the new direction with Robinson.
“That’s ideal, that’s really ideal,” Hughes said. “That’s an ideal situation. It’s easy to communicate. It’s a long season, you always want to have dialogue and talk things out. Every night’s not going to be your night. I understand that. Those are things you need to talk about.
“I definitely want the dialogue,” Hughes added. “It helps to let guys know where you stand. You can voice opinions on both sides. He doesn’t have to run with your opinion [but] just to have communication. That goes a long way in this league. You’re dealing with grown men and a lot of different personalities.”
* With D’Antoni under scrutiny for his 14-game banishment of Robinson looking too severe, team president Donnie Walsh said: “It proved Mike right in his actions all the way through. When he changed the rotation, we won. And then when he got back to Nate, we won the game.” . . . Walsh seemed disturbed when asked about D’Antoni’s remarks on their interest in Tracy McGrady. “Go to Mike, I’m not talking about it,” he said.