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Lin leads Knicks past Pacers

By CLIFF BRUNT, AP Sports Writer
10 hours, 14 minutes ago

INDIANAPOLIS (AP)—Whatever Mike Woodson is doing, it’s working.

Jeremy Lin scored 19 points to help the New York Knicks defeat the Indiana Pacers 102-88 on Saturday night and improve to 3-0 under Woodson, the team’s interim coach.

The Knicks have won by an average of 23.7 points since Woodson took over for Mike D’Antoni. New York defeated the Pacers 115-100 on Friday night in New York, and that followed a 42-point victory against Portland in Woodson’s first game as coach.

Lin said there hasn’t been a major shift in the team’s approach. The team looks to the post on offense a bit more, but that’s about the only difference.

“I just think it’s we have all 15 guys right now on the same page buying in, and that’s the biggest thing, is that we’re playing together. I don’t think there’s any major changes philosophically from a coaching standpoint,” he said.

Knicks forward Amare Stoudemire said the messenger matters.

“Coach Woodson, he’s more of—he’s a player’s coach,” Stoudemire said. “It’s a matter of us as players playing hard for him and trying to get these wins.”

Woodson returned the praise, crediting his team for picking up its defensive intensity.

“Our hearts are right in it, and it was a total team effort,” he said. “I couldn’t be more proud of the team than I am tonight. I happen to have a great group of guys and a talented bunch. We just have to keep them playing at a high level. If we do that, we have a chance.”

Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony each scored 16 points and J.R. Smith added 11 for the Knicks.

It was just New York’s eighth road win of the season, but in many ways, it wasn’t a road contest.

Lin, NBA’s first American-born player of Chinese or Taiwanese descent, made it seem almost like a Knicks home game. Hundreds of mostly Asian fans arrived an hour early and surrounded the visitor’s entrance to catch a glimpse of their hero, many wearing his No. 17 jersey. During the game, he got the loudest cheers. Lin, who is still adjusting to the enormous amount of attention he has received, was taken aback.

Old-school Pacers like Reggie Miller might have lost their lunches hearing a Knicks player draw cheers in Indiana.

But then again, Miller never faced Linsanity.

“I think it was a little crazier here than it normally is,” Lin said. “That’s cool. I didn’t know I had any fans in Indiana.”

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New York Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni has resigned; owner calls it mutual agreement

By Associated Press, Updated: Wednesday, March 14, 6:29 PM

NEW YORK — Maybe there’s a big-name coach out there who can bring out the best in Carmelo Anthony and the New York Knicks.

Mike D’Antoni decided Wednesday he wasn’t that guy. And so, he resigned, surprising even his bosses.

“It wasn’t just Carmelo,” interim general manager Glen Grunwald said. “I think it was our whole team was not playing up to where we thought they could be and I know Mike was as frustrated as anyone about that and that’s what led him to that decision, that maybe there needs to be a new approach and look at it.”

Assistant Mike Woodson will serve as interim head coach, starting with Wednesday night’s game against the Portland Trail Blazers at Madison Square Garden.

The Knicks’ brief resurgence in a wave of Linsanity last month has been replaced by a six-game losing streak that has dropped them into a tie for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, along of speculation of friction between D’Antoni and his All-Star forward.

D’Antoni ran the Knicks through their morning shootaround, but not before stopping into Grunwald’s office at the Knicks’ training center and telling him and fellow executive Allan Houston of his intentions.

Grunwald called MSG chairman James Dolan, who went up to the Westchester training center for what he called a “very honest” conversation with the D’Antoni. He later said the parting was mutual.

“He clearly felt it was best for the organization if he were not to continue as coach of the team. He did offer to stay,” Dolan said during a press conference. “After a long discussion, we did agree it was best for the organization to have new voice moving forward.”

Dolan made it clear that he believes in the players and still expects a playoff berth. D’Antoni said before the season that the Knicks should be a contender, but they haven’t looked like one in the last 10 games — all since Anthony returned from a groin injury.

New York is just 2-8 in that span, and D’Antoni wasn’t the only one who couldn’t figure out why the Knicks couldn’t win with their best player.

“It’s hard to explain why we have struggled and I don’t really don’t want to get too deep on that,” Woodson said. “I think what’s more important is that we move forward.”

A message was left with D’Antoni seeking comment.

He seemed upbeat after the morning practice and gave no indication of his plans. Asked the last thing he said to players, rookie Iman Shumpert said: “Well, this morning it was, ‘See you tonight.’ So like I said, it’s a shock to us.”

Anthony said after the shootaround he supported the coach “100 percent,” denying a New York Post report that he would like a trade before Thursday’s deadline.

D’Antoni acknowledged the media frenzy around the sinking club but believed the Knicks would handle it.

“You battle against it. I think we’re cohesive enough to battle through this, and we expect to do that,” he said.

His departure comes less than a month after he seemed rejuvenated by the emergence of Jeremy Lin, the undrafted point guard from Harvard who came off the end of the bench and proved to be the player who could properly run his offensive system.

Anthony and Knicks Can’t Play Together

As they steeled themselves late Monday for a grinding, gripping final 12 minutes in Chicago, the Knicks broke into two factions along the bench. At one end, a swarm of players gathered around the coaching staff. At the other, Carmelo Anthony sat stoically, a towel over his shoulders, alone.

“I do that every game,” Anthony would say later, smiling.

Anthony knew he would be on the bench to start the fourth quarter, as he often is. It was perhaps not that vital for him to join his 14 teammates in the huddle. Yet in the context of the Knicks’ current struggles, the imagery was striking, and telling.

The Knicks are not a unified team. On one side is Anthony. On the other is everyone else.

It is evident in Anthony’s body language, in his teammates’ postgame remarks and in the minor wrinkles of the box score. It is most glaring in the win-loss ledger, which has been inverted since Anthony rejoined the lineup.

The Knicks were 7-1 without Anthony last month (including a victory over Utah in which he played only six minutes). They have lost 8 of 10 games since he returned.

For two weeks, the Knicks played a fluid, joyful game in which everyone thrived and pulled for one another. The joy has faded, pushed aside by tension and resentment and a six-game losing streak.

The causes are varied, and Anthony is not solely to blame. But multiple people with ties to the team cite a growing divide between Anthony and his teammates that is threatening to derail the season.

Anthony is breaking plays and demanding the ball in isolation, then snapping at teammates when they fail to get it to him. It happened late Monday, when Anthony called for the ball in the post, then smacked his hands in anger after Landry Fields went elsewhere. More often, Anthony saves the criticism for more private moments, on the bench or in the locker room.

Anthony wants the Knicks to play through him, as every team has throughout his career. He is, by is own admission, uncomfortable in an offense in which he is not the primary ball-handler. That role is now capably filled by Jeremy Lin and Baron Davis.

“He wants 20 shots a game,” a person with ties to another Knicks player said of Anthony. “He has had a scorer’s mentality his whole life.”

Yet the team that Anthony rejoined in late February no longer needs a 20-shot-a-game player. The Knicks have scoring options in Amar’e Stoudemire, Tyson Chandler, Steve Novak, Iman Shumpert, Fields and Lin — the group that spearheaded the seven-game winning streak last month. They have since added more scoring in Davis and J. R. Smith. They are at their best when everyone is involved.

That is the philosophy that Coach Mike D’Antoni preaches daily, one that is echoed by Stoudemire after nearly every defeat.

“All of us, every single player, has to buy into it, and give the coach a chance for his strategy to work,” Stoudemire said after Sunday’s loss to the Philadelphia 76ers. “If we don’t, then see what happens.”

These critiques and speeches about “sacrifice” are always unspecific and carefully worded, but it is understood that they are intended for Anthony, the only Knick talented enough to repeatedly break plays and get away with it.

The fact is, Anthony is not performing at a level that warrants more shots or self-indulgent play. He is shooting a career-low 40 percent from the field. The Knicks are 2-11 this season when he has 20 or more attempts.

For the past 10 games, the Knicks have been demonstrably worse when Anthony plays. With Anthony on the court, the Knicks are scoring at a rate of 97.7 points per 100 possessions. When he is on the bench, that rating soars to 109.8.

The contrast is just as sharp on defense: the Knicks give up 107.1 points per 100 possessions with Anthony on the court, 95.1 with Anthony on the bench. His personal differential, a minus-9.4 rating, is the worst on the team in that 10-game stretch.

Nor is Anthony fulfilling his presumed role as a clutch performer. He misfired repeatedly down the stretch in Chicago, adding to a string of fourth-quarter failures this season. He intentionally fouled Kyle Korver and sent him to the line on a key possession in the final minute, with the Knicks down by 4, after the players had been instructed to simply play defense.

This is not an issue of whether D’Antoni’s coaching or his system suits Anthony, or whether Anthony likes D’Antoni. The question is whether Anthony is willing to subjugate his game for the greater good, as his teammates are demanding.

If not, he risks losing more than just his team’s respect. Fans who swooned over Anthony 13 months ago are booing him during introductions. Columnists are dissecting every comment, every shot attempt and every sideline gesture.

The Knicks are 12-20 with Anthony in the lineup this season, and 25-34 since he put on the uniform.

Carmelo Anthony wanted the Knicks. He demanded the trade that cost them four starters and multiple draft picks, and the $65 million extension that came with it. Anthony wanted the New York spotlight. Now he must accept the glare.