Mike D’Antoni said yesterday that on the Knicks’ failed potential game-tying play in Monday’s loss to the Raptors — a Carmelo Anthony 3-pointer — Plan A was to go for two points and Plan B was to shoot a 3.
The Knicks were trailing the Raptors 88-85 when they came out of a timeout with 17.4 seconds remaining, and Anthony launched a 3 that missed, helping to seal a 90-85 loss. D’Antoni said after the game the Knicks “forgot the play” and “didn’t run the play right.” He explained further yesterday.
“With 17 seconds to go, we wanted to get a two. If a 3 presented itself and it’s wide open, yeah, we’d take it. But we wanted to go for a quick two and then look and see what happens,” D’Antoni said. “It didn’t happen. There was confusion. So be it.”
D’Antoni did say the play was designed for Anthony, so the Knicks did have the right guy taking the shot. The coach said, “We went over it [yesterday] to make sure we know it a little bit better.”
* The Knicks tonight will face Bobcats rookie and former UConn standout Kemba Walker for the first time. Entering last night’s game, Walker was averaging 11.5 points and 3.5 assists.
“I haven’t seen him that much,” D’Antoni said. “I like him. Great college career, great kid. I really like his personality and he’s tough. He’s good. He’s going to be great in the league.”
* Heading into last night’s game, the Knicks were shooting a miserable 40.2 percent from the field through five games, ranking 28th in the NBA. Said Anthony, “I don’t think we can shoot any worse than what we’ve been shooting, from a field goal percentage standpoint.”
* D’Antoni on what would be successful for the Knicks this year: “We’re going to try to win it all. … Now, we know that’s lofty. But we should be one of the best teams in the league.”
* Amar’e Stoudemire on the importance of playing at a high speed offensively: “We still need to get the ball out. Up-tempo. Because what happens with that is that we create easy baskets for guys who are not one-on-one players. Carmelo and myself are guys that can score regardless. But for the rest of the guys, with that up-tempo style of play, gets them involved early.”