Monthly Archives: February 2010
Click here in case you missed Anthony’s big show tonight. First, Rice Balls had a chance to chat with Grizzlies’ forward, Zach Randolph. Then, 
minutes later he had the chance to speak with the legendary coach of Syracuse, Mr. Jim Boeheim. Fresh off Syracuse’s big win last night over Villanova, Coach Boeheim had plenty to talk about, including his current team and his former players now thriving in the NBA. Also, listen to hear what Coach thinks his old Team USA star LeBron James will do once he hits the free agent market this summer.
There were a couple of interesting tidbits from the Randolph interview too. First, Randolph still believes that the Knicks squad last season would have made the playoffs had Walsh decided to keep the roster in tact. Also, Randolph talked about the negative reputation that followed him around earlier in his career. Zach was clear that he has not necessarily changed, but rather that sometimes a reputation (whether true or not) sometimes follows you around.
Both were great interviews. Check them out.
Remember to check out TKB Radio with Anthony Rice Balls flying solo tonight @ 9. His featured guest will be Zach Randolph. For those of you who have been reading this site for a while, you may remember my gut reaction when Zach was dealt for nothing more than cap space. While I understand the move now, I was not as sold when the move was made. The bottom line is that Zach was an all-star caliber talent, and he was essentially given away.
Zach had a bad rep when he came to NY, but most of those problems that he had in Portland did not seem to follow him to the Garden. I never heard of him being in any sort of trouble in NYC. In fact, I have read that he is in fact a great guy.
Now putting up a stellar season with the Grizz, it appears as though Randolph has found a home in Memphis. That team looks to him for leadership on the court. He is their best player and his ability to command attention has truly helped alleviate the pressures put on Gasol, Mayo, and Gay.
I am happy that he has grown as a player and he has received all-star recognition. He deserves it.
Again, do not miss Anthony’s show tonight @ 9. There is also the possibility of Rice Balls having a legendary guest on the show tonight. That is yet to be determined.
Listen LIVE (click the player on the right on the BTR player)
Tune in to TKB Radio tonight at 9 PM to talk Knicks with Anthony “Rice Balls” Donahue. Listen to Anthony chat with former Knicks forward, Zach Randolph off the heels of a major game last night in his return to MSG. I always liked Zach as a Knick and it is a shame that he had to be a part of the overhaul in NY. Like Mike D’Antoni said, the move was necessary, but it was still a tough one to swallow.
Also, there may be another major guest coming on to chat. All I can say is that this guest is an absolute legend. More details to come as I hear of them.
Don’t miss tonight’s show, and as always, give a call in and let your voice be heard.
Call in to be a part of the show @:
(646) 478-5554
Become a fan of Anthony Rice Balls on his Facebook page @ http://www.facebook.com/TonyRiceBalls.
Mike D’Antoni did some explaining last night in regards to whether or not to foul at the end of games when up by three points.
“…D’Antoni said he feels it’s not a given to foul with that much time left because the Knicks are a poor rebounding team. Against the Wizards, for instance, he said the fear is if McGee missed the second free throw, the Wizards could’ve grabbed the offensive rebound. The undersized Knicks, during their eight-game losing streak, were a minus-79 in rebounding, and allowed the Grizzlies to grab 17 offensive boards in last night’s 120-109 loss.
D’Antoni said he also is afraid the player about to be fouled could go into a quick shooting motion and be awarded three free throws.
“Conventional wisdom is to foul by everybody who has never coached a game,” D’Antoni said, taking a shot at his critics.
“Under five seconds, you always foul,” D’Antoni said. “Above five seconds, it gets dicey. You watch players, all you have to do is motion right there [to shoot]; he’s taking three [foul] shots. That’s a bad mistake. I play the percentages. The worst that happens is you control your own destiny and we had a shot at the end…”
The issue is more when the team has a foul to give, but the point is the same. When you’re an awful rebounding team, as the team has been the last two seasons, you can’t allow a team the opportunity to create points from the foul line. In other words, if you give the foul late you’re risking a shooting foul. But then the Knicks would at the very least get the ball back, assuming that the player would can all three free throws.
I’ve talked to 4 high-level coaches over the past two months and they’ve said it’s not an automatic given to foul. Those situations are taught in game film. A player moving forward against a certain number on the shot clock dictates and the message comes from the bench.
You’d be surprised at the team who would also play it “straight up” feeling they have that much confidence in their rebounding and defensive abilities. They don’t foul feeling the play represents weakness.
For D’Antoni, and many coaches, the percentage of hitting a three point shot under 5 seconds is very low. Unfortunately for the Knicks and Knick fans, it’s been 100% the last few times.
On the heels of last night’s victory in DC the Knicks return home to face Zach 
Randolph’s Memphis Grizzlies.
The Grizz are also playing back-t0-back nights having lost to the Bobcats last night.
Memphis is just 4-8 in the month of February.
My thoughts on the coach are pretty simple.
If you think you have the guy figured out based on this team, well, I just don’t believe you all too much.
As I’ve said all along, I will judge him starting with next year, and I actually respect the fact that he took this job.
As Coach Van Gundy told us the other night, leadership in the locker room is essential and that comes in the form of star players or players who have permission to lead from the star players.
A star player and leader changes every minute of every game, every plane or bus ride, every film session and every practice.
Everyone loves Marcus Camby. He may be the most talked about subject in terms of emails I’ve received. Van Gundy couldn’t stand the thought or sight of Camby after the Knicks traded Oakley for him. The coach made him earn every second he got and it payed off in the 99 playoffs. Camby was “alienated” from day one by the coach because of the loss of Oakley, only getting 20 minutes per game. That’s a former top 3 pick we’re talking about.
Again, forgive me if I’m not ready to anoint D’Antoni a failure.
Tom Coughlin couldn’t win here either.
To me, blaming the coach is far too convenient. Anything short of a championship is an “I told you so.”
Which I think is lame.
Can he win here? With the right players, absolutely. We’ll know more about that in the coming off season.
Loading ...By Kwame Eaddy
As always we ask that you send your submissions to theknicksblog@gmail.com
1. Mike D’Antoni can’t win against coaches with less coaching experience
2. Mike D’Antoni does not see that his players are not motivated by his alienation tactics,or doesn’t care
3. Here is a list of his true achievements as knick coach:
By Ryan Trapasso
As always, we encourage all you to express your thoughts. Send them to theknicksblog@gmail.com.
We are all evolving. Plants are evolving. Animals are evolving. Societies, governments, law, music, technology, and, yes, even sports are evolving. As bodies change, times change, and preferences change, sports have changed along with them. The advancements in technology making for better tires, engines, faster cars in NASCAR; easier to hit and longer clubs in golf, as well as more efficient ways to take care of courses; better knowledge of the human body to start training athletes more effectively at a younger age, especially in sports like football and basketball. As the passion for sports grows in our society, so, too, does the jump in participation and legitimacy of programs like AAU basketball and PAL football. I love having so many young people become involved in athletics and stepping away somewhat from the attraction to video games. So, where am I going with this? I’m saying that this evolution, from a basketball point of view, has itself an example of infancy in Coach D’Antoni.
Both praised and mocked as being an offensive innovator, Mike D’Antoni was known in Phoenix for a fast-paced, wide open style of basketball that scored a ton of points and produced some of the most exciting regular season basketball the league has seen. Night after night, you knew you were getting Steve Nash pushing the ball down your throat, a steady dose of pick-and-rolls, and a ton of threes. Steve Nash is Steve Nash, but what isn’t as widely noted is just how open the system gets players for those shots and how the Suns did play defense; it was just a different kind. The Suns were about hustle and athletic plays: steals, blocks, pushing off misses. Attack, attack, attack.
Yet, it’s not just Mike. The similarities in D’Antoni’s teams and the “new” NFL are staggering. Gone are the days of bruising, low-scoring affairs in football. The past three Super Bowls have seen the end of the old adage “run the ball, stop the run” in favor of “pass the ball, stop the pass.” It’s a quarterback’s league, now. It’s a star’s league. You attack, attack, attack. Sound familiar? You create turnovers more so than get stops, and you hope to have the ball last at the end to win the game. It’s not about building a lead and holding on to win, anymore. It’s offense. The amazing part, though, is fans are loving it. In 2009/2010, the NFL saw its best TV ratings in twenty years (the Saints/Colts matchup beat the record for viewers by M.A.S.H., for heaven’s sake), and with the league floating around more rule changes, such as the ban on the three-point stance, this new era of offense seems here to stay.
There are people who will say that you can’t win championships in sports without playing defense. My response to this is generally, “What kind of defense?” This coach’s system, defensively, thrives on athleticism and length; on turnovers you can capitalize on, much like the modern NFL. How did the Giants stop Tom Brady? Athletic plays made by their defensive line. How did Arizona come back against Pittsburgh, and how did Pittsburgh come back on them? An electric passing offense. How did the Saints have such a great season defensively and, also, pull out the win against Peyton Manning? Not bruising defense. Turnovers. How exciting were these games? Weren’t you on the edge of your seat like I was?
I understand that the NBA isn’t where the NFL is, yet, but I implore you to think about it. You do not need to play like you’re going to punish and throttle somebody carelessly who dares drive into the paint on you. There’s nothing wrong with playing hard, but step up and force them around or make a steal or a block. I don’t understand how using hard fouls and being the “bad guy” does anything beneficial for your team with how the rules are being called in games, now. You all see the touch fouls being called, so why not adapt and become more finesse; more crafty? Offense is starting to be favored in this league, so what’s wrong with trying to build a team around a system that takes advantage? Just because you’re a running team, that doesn’t mean you can’t play defense, too. It’s just not the defense most Knick fans seem used to. Wait until Coach D’Antoni has players that fit. Then, you can be the judge.
All that said, to me, there’s a more important point to be made, and this deals with the “softening” of all sports, not just basketball but certainly including it. In an increasingly concerned and cautious world, the safety of athletes of all ages has taken center stage. We’ve seen before how past generations loved smash-mouth sports. Hockey fans can surely cite bruising battles far better than I; football fans can surely look back and tell stories of trench battles, intense rivalries, brutal hits, and broken limbs. As we’ve approached the end of those generations, though, we’ve seen the result. Countless former pro athletes shells of themselves, not in an athletic sense, but in a functional, quality-of-life sense. We don’t see or hear enough the stories of the athletes who can’t function enough to take care of themselves because of the tens of concussions they suffered. We don’t see the man in the wheelchair who’s relearning how to write his own name. We don’t see the man who limps around on a cane in pain, wondering how he’s going to pay for a surgery he needs just to be able to keep walking in the limited way he does.
Too, the stories of a high school student left motionless on the field, everyone collectively holding their breath, praying he’s not paralyzed. Sometimes, he is. The young man or woman struck in the head in the batters’ box after a pitch gone awry. What about the kid who drives into the lane and is met with a hard foul? How many times has a young man or woman had their skull crash into a hardwood floor, experiencing a concussion that may rear its ugly head later on in their lives? What about a young girl taken down by a hard tackle on the soccer field, left with a broken leg? Not only can’t she play the game, but how much school will she miss? How much learning will she miss being out of school? Will it cost her a scholarship that was her only way of affording a higher education?
Obviously, there are risks playing sports, and we know this. We can’t prevent everything. I’m sure it’s true, too, that basketball is greatly less dangerous than football in the sense of spinal injuries and concussions, but that’s not to say it can’t or won’t happen. The sad thing is, though, the severity of injuries has the potential to get even worse. We have the technology and knowledge, now, to build such powerful bodies through proper nutrition and training, that the dangers are so very great. Can anyone argue against the positive aspects of the NFL banning players from “launching” themselves into another player, or the ban on helmet-to-helmet contact? What about NASCAR with the Dale Earnhardt tragedy and the introduction of required harnesses, and restrictor plates well before that? If we can limit injuries and still enjoy playing the sports we love, isn’t change worth it? There will always be people who want the “good ole days,” but I argue bring on the change. Bring on better training, athleticism, and a “softer” game for all sports. If it protects people and makes sports more exciting and fun for everyone involved, why not?
Fans like offense. With the explosion in popularity of fantasy sports, as well as the rise in ratings for sports lately (see: the ultimate case of “basketball on grass,” the 2010 Pro Bowl), this is something we know. Maybe it’s just me, but I can’t see that appetite for excitement diminishing, nor can I see a decrease in the need to better protect young people while still allowing them to play a game they love. This new wave, in many different sports, seems to be the real deal. I argue that it’s time the fans start to look at it from a different perspective and see how exciting the evolution of the sport we love could be. Now, basketball may not reach it as fast as football has, and, who knows, maybe, it never will, but I think we can adjust and enjoy ourselves even more than we ever imagined if it does.
← Older posts“…WASHINGTON(AP) David Lee‘s layup with 1.6 seconds to play in overtime gave the New York Knicks a 118-116 victory over the Washington Wizards on Friday night.
New York snapped an eight-game losing streak by surviving a bizarre overtime where the teams combined to miss 13 of their 16 field goal attempts.
With the game tied at 116, Lee – who had both of New York’s baskets in overtime – drove left and scored over JaVale McGee.
Lee, who had 25 points and 16 rebounds, hit a jumper with 3:12 remaining to give New York a 114-112 lead. McGee missed the second of two free throws with 13 seconds to play, and the Knicks’ lead was 114-113.
Al Harrington, who had 26 of his 37 points after halftime, hit two free throws with 12 seconds left to make it 116-113. Nick Young’s 3-pointer with 6.4 seconds remaining in overtime – Washington’s only basket in the extra five minutes – made it 116-all.
Washington missed seven of its eight field goal attempts in overtime.
The game was tied at 112 entering overtime after McGee blocked Wilson Chandler‘s layup attempt with 1.9 seconds remaining in regulation.
New York is 2-5 in overtime and Washington has lost all four of its overtime games.
Harrington has played fewer minutes in the four games since the arrival of Tracy McGrady, but he had his biggest game since the trade. McGrady had 23 points, but left with about 2 1/2 minutes remaining in the third quarter and did not return…”
