PHOENIX – Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni received a rousing ovation during pregame introductions from the US Airways Arena fans, many of them standing and applauding to show their appreciation of his tenure as coach of the Suns from 2003-08.
“It was nice,” D’Antoni said of the cheers.
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Suns owner Robert Sarver, who chased D’Antoni out of the desert, had his hands by his side during the emotional moments. But after the first quarter, Sarver was out of his courtside seat cheering his team’s dominating start.
Suns big men Shaquille O’Neal and Amare Stoudemire spoiled D’Antoni’s hyped return to Phoenix, overpowering the small-ball Knicks early, building a 30-15 lead in the opening eight minutes and hanging on for a 111-103 victory.
The Knicks (11-13) acquitted themselves in the fourth quarter. They got within three points, 100-97, with 4:02 left after Phoenix missed 10 of its first 11 shots of the period while Nate Robinson (27 points) got hot.
In contrast to the Suns’ inside power, D’Antoni’s 3-point shooting army was misfiring all over the desert, hitting 2 of 19 (10.5 percent) in the first half and 5 of 37 (13.5 percent) for the game.
“I loved the way we played,” D’Antoni said. “We had opportunities to win. We didn’t make our 3s, obviously.”
D’Antoni said his return to Phoenix was like anticipating Christmas, not knowing if the present would be good or not. As it turned out, he tore open the box and inside found a 7-foot-1, 350-pound monster formerly known as the game’s greatest center.
Phoenix coach Terry Porter had his club dump the ball into the post for O’Neal religiously. O’Neal made his free throws and passed crisply out of the post. He finished with 23 points, 12 rebounds and four assists and made 11 of his 18 free throws.
Stoudemire racked up 21 points and 14 boards – five offensive. The Suns (15-10) had 13 offensive rebounds.
“The Shaq of old would’ve had 40 but he played great,” said the Knicks’ Al Harrington, who fell back to earth with a 8-of-22, 24-point outing after winning Eastern Conference Player of the Week honors yesterday.
“We felt we had to get him out of the game in the first four minutes. But we came out and didn’t make shots, allowed him to get a rhythm and they kept feeding him. He was a playmaker and he made free throws. He won the game for them.”
Before the game, the Suns’ Steve Nash showed he’s still taking D’Antoni’s loss hard. The reception his former coach received made things easier.
“I was proud . . . to hear the response Mike got,” Nash said. “I thought it was classy after the bit of controversy over his exit. People really needed to brush that aside.”
Nash and D’Antoni had a couple of byplays during the game. When Nash checked back into the game in the second quarter, D’Antoni said to him: “I thought you were going to get more rest this year.”
Nash (21 points, six assists) eventually hit the game-sealing trey with 29 seconds left, in front of the Knicks bench, that drove the lead to eight points.
Suns 111 Knicks 103