C’mon, even a dullard like me saw that coming.
Apostroph’e Stoudemire returned against the Cadavers and the Knicks’ offense — flawless to a fault in its previous two games — took a powder and took the defense with it.
The same collage which shot nearly 57 percent (better than 59 percent from the depths) against defensively demonizing Boston and put up 64 first-half points at New Jersey crawled (56 through three quarters) at Cleveland — against a team with no legit center (though Jim Chones is thisclose to coming out of the Cadavers’ booth and making an impact) and which had lost its previous three games by a combined 71 points.
What happened to the memo that the Earth, the Moon and all of interim owner James Dolan’s Camp Cablevision constellations revolved around Carmelo Anthony?
Smiling throughout the first half and playing to the crowd (You think Bob Knight, Red Holzman and Larry Brown would have allowed Melo, Amar’e and Baron Davis to enjoy themselves while the team was getting its collective assets kicked?), the strikingly unmotivated Melo put up 13 shots (five makes), got to the line once and hauled in a single rebound.
Don’t read me wrong: I am not putting the Knicks’ limp loss on Melo. I understand the difficulty in getting up for a moderately meaningless game and being deployed again at small forward, just as I recognize the importance of finding time and touches for Amar’e a week before the playoffs get underway.
Still, this hardly is the time to tamper with normally oscillating harmony and routinely fragile role-playing. It really doesn’t matter whether the Knicks finish sixth, seventh or eighth (Indiana is no pushover), but how they finish. Lose to Miami or Chicago, OK, as long as you show well. Lose to Indiana and interim coach Mike Woodson doesn’t keep his job.
The comedown against the Cavaliers was the first good reason to interview others for the head coach position.
Age-old gobbledygook aside about wounded warriors not forfeiting their standing, was there anything encouraging Woodson saw in practice that influenced him to reunite Amar’e with the regulars after he had started the previous 27 days at the medical wing?
As predicted in daily emails by column Intel Officer Sam Lefkowitz, the Bermuda Triangle Offense was in full effect. Woodson’s world stagnated as Anthony and Stoudemire paired up and were later joined by J.R. Smith. They were totally out of sync.
Nothing and nobody moved. Players got out of the way and waited and watched. And the coach screamed, “That’s what I’m talking about!”
Woodson is chug-a-lugging too much Kool-Aid from his own still.
The Knicks get their rhythm from defense. Meanwhile, the present day Amar’e can’t guard the three, four, five or a healthy potted palm. He’s not even up to helping on defense.
Braids may make him look younger, but the body-beautiful cannot be duped.
Woodson insisted on starting Stoudemire rather than putting him in a position to succeed by gradually working himself back into game condition and cadence. Hence, the bench also was weakened. Landry Fields may be in a statistical slump, but he’s better for the first team due to the various tangibles and intangibles he provides.
OK, so Woodson was dead set on respecting Stoudemire’s rank and reputation. Then at least employ a zone, to shroud his shortcomings, to give him a chance to regain a feel for the game’s flow.
Instead, Amar’e made undrafted (2010) Samardo Samuels look like a sporty Karl Malone. It seemed every time they matched up, the 6-foot-9 Louisville import — by way of Newark’s St. Benedict’s Prep, from where J.R. went directly to the pros — whooshed by the Knicks’ just-browsing tourist for an uncontested layup, or stuck an unmolested jumper (7-for-12 on field goals).
Surely Woodson won’t be deceived by Stoudemire stumbling to a team-tying 15 points. From what I witnessed against the Cavs and during his post-bulging disc days that began in last year’s playoffs against the Celtics, Amar’e is Amar’e in name only. Very little is left of the player he was prior to that first round.
That’s not to say he won’t be back strong next season — if he doesn’t hurt himself in the meantime — but this season is shot.
A few weeks ago, a former coaching colleague of Woodson’s offered this general insight, which hopefully applies to Amar’e: “Sometimes, Woody can be stubborn, but he isn’t obstinate and will realize when he is wrong.”
This just in from column contraire Phillip Marmanillo: “Why sign an emergency big when you don’t have a starting point? Baron Davis, Mike Bibby and Toney Douglas will be gone the moment the last whistle blows.”
* Until something serious is uncovered regarding the business practices of Billy Hunter or it’s proved Derek Fisher’s agenda is detrimental to the Players Association, I don’t really care to waste space regarding the polluted power struggle going on between the union’s executive director and its president.
I will say, though, I expected more truth from Hunter on March 1 when I asked him point blank about a feud with Fisher. I’d been told during All-Star weekend the two had stopped speaking and were coming after each other on numerous issues. He fervently brushed off my information and said they had exchanged emails a few days prior.
For its part, the union’s executive committee voted 8-0 in hopes Fisher would step aside rather than be forced to pursue legal means. Big deal! That same sentiment is voiced toward me every time we have a family get-together.