PHOENIX – Steve Nash predicted it right. Mike D’Antoni got a rousing standing ovation during pregame introductions from the US Airways Arena crowd a lot more appreciative of his Suns’ tenure than his former owner Robert Sarver.
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“It will be great to see him for sure,” Nash said before facing D’Antoni’s Knicks Monday night in the coach’s much-hyped return. “I’m sure he’ll make it more exciting than a regular season game for the fans. In general as players, we want to get it over with.
“He deserves a warm reception,” Nash added. “He had a huge impact on this franchise’s recent history. I wouldn’t understand how Mike could be booed after everything he did here.”
Not a single boo was heard Monday night as D’Antoni’s name was announced and the Suns public address announcer was classy in allowing the fans their few moments to thank the former Suns coach who led them to an average 58 wins in four full seasons.
“I told people in New York last summer that just having Mike around, his attitude, how much fun it will be for the players to be around him,” Nash said. “They’ve improved already.”
Nash took another shot at Suns management for letting D’Antoni flee. “People got really desperate and greedy for a championship and we didn’t win a championship but it wasn’t really any fault of our own to an extent,” Nash said. “There is a lot of second-guessing that can go on now but I’m going to look back on it and say we had a great four years. We changed the face of the franchise.It really changed this franchise having him as a coach.”
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Notes:
Patrick Ewing Jr. was assigned to the Reno Big Horns of the D-League yesterday and made his debut last night. Ewing still could be signed by the Kicks to fill their vacant roster spot but Donnie Walsh is looking first at a tradea Al Harrington won Eastern Conference Player of the Week, averaging 33.3 points on 56.5 percent shooting the past three games. Harrington is averaging 25.5 points as a Knick. In the past two games, Harrington posted a 39-point night in Jersey and a 33-point outing in Sacramento that sealed Kings coach Reggie Theus’ fate. Theus was fired yesterday.