Mike D’Antoni said he’s always enjoyed coaching at the Garden. “Yeah, because I thought we’d win,” D’Antoni cracked, then adding, “That was a cheap shot.”
Tonight, D’Antoni for the first time will work the other bench at the World’s Most Famous Arena, where the Knicks host the 76ers in their preseason home opener.
“You know what?” said D’Antoni, who signed a four-year, $24 million contract in May. “It is special. There is an aura. You go in and you got to feel it. If you play basketball and you walk into the Garden, it’s something special.”
It’s actually been a nightmare for the Knicks’ last five head coaches – Don Chaney, Lenny Wilkens, Herb Williams, Larry Brown and Isiah Thomas.
But D’Antoni has a right to puff out his chest. D’Antoni’s high-tempo system in Phoenix destroyed Eastern competition. In his four full seasons with Phoenix, D’Antoni’s Suns posted a remarkable 45-15 record in road games against the East, including the Garden. In 2006-07, the Suns were 14-1 against the East on the road.
In their first two preseason games against Eastern playoff clubs, the Knicks looked very decent, embracing D’Antoni’s speedball philosophy. They lost at the wire in Toronto, 114-112, and beat the Sixers in Philly, 110-104. But there’s a lot more to prove before the Garden believes this group won’t embarrass the city again.
“They haven’t seen us yet,” D’Antoni said. “Our job is to convince them. Whether that takes [tonight] in the first quarter or December or next year, I don’t know. We’re going to work to earn their respect and give them something to be proud of and give them some entertainment.”
Despite last season’s catastrophic 23-59 season, attendance, oddly, held up. The Knicks sold out 21 games, including eight of the last 10, and their 19,116 average was a respectable 10th in the league.
Don’t expect attendance to be nearly that good this season, especially early. Last season’s season-ticket renewal rate was 91 percent. Though Knicks officials won’t release figures until before the Oct. 29 season opener, the renewal is expected to be much worse – the grave financial crisis and the Knicks’ winning crisis taking their toll.
“We may have lost a little bit of the base,” D’Antoni said. “We got to get that back. We got to get to the point where people really want to come out and watch us play. The ultimate thing is we have to win.”
After a 2007-2008 season of selfish play and lack of hustle, the Knicks are sharing the ball in racking up a healthy 52 assists in their first two games. They’re getting back on defense to prevent layups and dunks. And they’re featuring a so-far ferocious front-court tandem of David Lee (20.5 ppg) and Zach Randolph (18.5 ppg).
“I’m pleasantly surprised first couple of games,” Lee said. “We’ve come together and played unselfish.”
Said D’Antoni, “Chemistry is good. I heard chemistry was going to be terrible. I don’t think it’s that way.”
D’Antoni is sticking to his starting five of Lee, Randolph and Quentin Richardson up front and Chris Duhon and Jamal Crawford in the backcourt. Stephon Marbury is the sixth man and Wilson Chandler and Nate Robinson are key cogs off the bench.
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In the most bizarre moment of practice yesterday, Eddy Curry burst the exercise ball while sitting on it. Curry tumbled to the court, appearing to scrape his elbow.