Former Knicks coach Jeff Van Gundy said it was “ludicrous” to think Mike Woodson should be canned over his failure to call a timeout with 6.9 seconds left Monday in the club’s loss to Washington.
Van Gundy, on a conference call to promote ABC’s Christmas coverage, said Carmelo Anthony also was to blame for not getting the ball up the court quicker.
“The thing that irritated me, even if someone had the opinion it was a mistake, to go from mistake to quote fireable offense is ludicrous,” Van Gundy said. “You don’t cut or trade a player because they make a mistake in an NBA game. Nor should there be an over-reacton to what a coach does. What really needs to happen is to get their roster intact and when they’re healthy, play a lot of better.”
Van Gundy said those late-game situations should be rehearsed in training camp, not just in a huddle.
“These are things you have discussed in practice from the time you started training camp, late-game situations. I don’t know if there’s a right way or wrong way to call it or not. There should be a philosophy how to handle those situations. Certainly if you don’t take a timeout, Melo has to catch it higher up the court and push the ball with a lot more urgency.”
Van Gundy has been linked to the Knicks job. The Post reported owner James Dolan would consider him as a future candidate if there’s an opening.
Van Gundy was asked about being taken off the Knicks-Bulls game at the Garden Dec. 11. He said he doesn’t know if it was “coincidental” but was glad it happened.
“I’m not sure about the exact timing — I got switched off the game,’’ Van Gundy said. “I don’t think there was any specific reason. … But I was happy when I saw [it]. I was glad the change was made because I really didn’t think it was ‑‑ [because] I’ve coached in that market … and people start talking about your job, and I’ve been hung on the back page of The New York Post, with the ‘Van Gone’ back page and ‘Back Up the Van’ and all that stuff, so I know how painful that stuff can be for a coach going through the speculation. I was glad, whether it was coincidental or not by whoever makes the schedule for ESPN. It’s not unusual for that to happen, but I was thankful for it when I saw the circumstances.’’
Sensitive to the notion he is lobbying for the Knicks job, Van Gundy has said he’d have no interest in taking a job in midseason. Asked about his coaching future, Van Gundy was noncommittal.
“I don’t think like that. I think what I’m doing today,’’ he said. “There’s some aspects of coaching I miss, the competition, the camaraderie with the coaching staff. I enjoy what I do right now.’’
Tyson Chandler, who did not play Monday, spoke in support of Woodson on Wednesday, saying the coach did talk about the timeout situation in the huddle and one of the players should have called time. Chandler said Woodson shouldn’t have taken the fall.
On his radio show Thursday, Woodson said, “I got ridiculed a lot behind it and I think from a coaching standpoint and from a team standpoint we understand amongst our group what needed to be done.’’
J.R. Smith took to Twitter after taking a franchise-record 17 3-pointers again. He made 5. Smith tweeted: “Lol 17 threes tho! Had to say damn my self!” A minute later, he added: “But trust me give me that chance again I’ll shoot it again!’’
Chandler feels the mood of team is changing slowly away from the dark place where it was.
“I love the morale of the team now,’’ he said. “Everyone’s talking, communicating. We’re doing team things, went to the movies [in Milwaukee]. It seems like starting to become more at ease around here. It was so uptight. Everyone was so tense. It felt like you can cut the air. I don’t feel that.’’