By MARC BERMAN
Maybe there will be a season after all.
Mike D’Antoni has taken a lot of heat on this blog for being stubborn and too offensive-minded, but tonight he deserves bouquets. D’Antoni’s mastermind defensive game plan shut down Boston in their stunning 100-88 win.
No, D’Antoni is not turning into Tom Thibodeau, Boston’s defensive genius and former Knicks assistant, but he is adapting to the Knicks roster. The Knicks coach realizes they can’t win putting their best five offensive players on the floor.
His decision to now use Al Harrington off the bench in favor of Jared Jeffries and Quentin Richardson has resulted in two victories – a road triumph over Charlotte – in the past three games where opponents scored in the 80’s. D’Antoni took Kevin Garnett and point guard Rajon Rondo out of the game with his defensive scheme as they combined for 9 points on 1 of 13 shooting.
Jeffries defended Rondo at the perimeter but scampered down low to double Garnett, who was swarmed all night by the Knick D. Rondo killed the Knicks in their prior meeting Dec. 21st and D’Antoni made the adjustments to hold the Celtics to 36 fewer points.
Wilson Chandler is out of his funk and he rang up a career-high 31, playing like a monster on both ends. His energy level was sky high – clearly Isiah Thomas’ best find running the Knicks.
D’Antoni used a seven-man rotation with Tim Thomas missing his second straight contest with a sprained toe. They go out to the Southwest for four games with a day off between each one – starting Tuesday in Oklahoma City followed by Dallas, Houston and New Orleans. They fly Monday feeling good about themselves again. And sometimes that is the biggest part of the battle. It’s not like the eighth seed will have a winning record this season.
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The pregame was all about Stephon Marbury, with Doc Rivers visibly uncomfortable with the topic. Rivers said he’d consult with his top players before ever agreeing to have Marbury join the team. But Rivers already knows Kevin Garnett is behind this pursuit if Marbury gets his release from the Knicks this week.
“I’m not opposed to Steph,” Garnett said. “I feel Steph has a lot of basketball left. I know his IQ is very, very high. He is one of the best point guards I’ve ever played with. I wouldn’t be opposed to that. If Steph comes to this team and makes us better, I’m all for that.”
There’s a perception from fans KG doesn’t like Marbury. I can’t vouch for what KG feels about Marbury as a person, but I know every time I’ve talked to him about Marbury, he raves about him as a player more than anyone I’ve spoken to. KG truly enjoyed his two seasons with Marbury and that is probably why he still holds some bitterness that it wasn’t good enough for Marbury to remain. Marbury has told me countless times his decision to force a trade out of Minnesota and not sign a seven-year extension had nothing to do with not wanting to play alongside Garnett. He hated the cold weather in Minneapolis and found the city not culturally diverse enough to raise his family for the next seven years.