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Remember the show on Nickelodeon called “Double Dare”? Man, now I’m dating myself. It was the show where kids battled against kids in attempt to win prizes- a discomfited combination of children’s trivia, Disney Land and mud wrestling.
If you don’t, that means you probably didn’t vote a few weeks ago.
The host, Marc Summers, would ask a trivia question to each side and they had the chance to answer it, dare or double dare the other team, and if neither team could answer it they had to take “the physical challenge.”
That challenge would usually be some wacky test of brainlessness and skill, but the efforts were usually rewarded by filling up some stupid cup with bizarre liquid past a dopey red line. It was the basis for my college dorm parties.
Winning these challenges was all about effort. No talent, just effort.
In the fourth quarter last night, the Knicks answered the Celtics physical challenge of grimy, hard-fought 
possessions forcing them into difficult shots. The Celtics made them.
The defensive group consisted of Chris Duhon, Q Rich, David Lee, Zach Randolph and Nate Robinson with some help from Mardy Collins off the bench.
No Jamal Crawford.
Benching Crawford against the World Champions at home in a barometer game for the Knicks is Mike D’Antoni’s way of sending a message to Crawford to play tougher. It’s his way of saying “scoring is great, but I need you to dig in and play physical defense.”
Crawford is not a physical player and not all players have to be, but when he’s struggling offensively he’s a liability on the court.
And last night D’Antoni made him know it, if he didn’t already.
So the next time D’Antoni dares Crawford defensively, he better bring more effort and accept the physical challenge.
And yup, I just made a Knicks-to-Nickelodeon analogy.
…Andrew Smith writes….
What I like about this decision by D’Antoni goes back to what we spoke about before the season. D’Antoni’s main objective this season is to eliminate every bad habit that plagued this team under Isiah. One of the large problems was the fact that the players were not held accountable, they could give a half-ass effort, or even give a great effort and not produce, and still be allowed to run free on the court.
This is accountability… “Jamal, you are not one of my five best players right now. You want to be on the court? Prove it.”
I love this decision and it will continue to change the environment….
I would agree wholeheartedly with everything said here. In the past it was as if the inmates were running the asylum. Eddy Curry shows up out of shape, Stephon Marbury leaves the team and nothing happens. Jamal Crawford takes bad shot after bad shot, while not trying at all on defense and nothing happens. These three were still glorified as the stars of the team. I can deal with losing. I just want the team to play hard. D’antoni has done an amazing job of creating an example of Marbury and Curry. I would applaud him tremendously if he can see through Crawford’s gaudy stat lines to all the deficiencies he has as a basketball players and hold Jamal accountable for them.
You must play D is a good message, but when is a message going to be sent to Q Rich. He blew a put back against Dallas late, and always seems to come up short late in the game. Could be fatigue. Nice shooter, but I don’t know if this guy would be the best player in my men’s league. He’s way out of shape and seems to be imune to criticism because he’s a “leader”. Coach D’Antoni has the whole team playing together, sprinting back on D, and playing time is based on merit. Q Rich shouldn’t finish games. I say Duhon, J Craw, Lee, Chandler Randolph. Nate off bench for guards. Rose off bench for frontline. (if needed)