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10-09-2008, 07:13 AM
D'Antoni upbeat despite Knicks' preseason lossBY ALAN HAHN | alan.hahn@newsday.com
October 9, 2008
TORONTO - Mike D'Antoni checked the stat sheet of last night's 113-111 loss to the Raptors in their preseason opener and found as many positives as he could, but no matter how hard he looks he won't see the name Steve Nash anywhere. He's slowly building a corps of reliable lieutenants among the refuse left behind by the Isiah Thomas era, but a floor general has yet to emerge.
The player D'Antoni and Donnie Walsh tapped to take on that role, Chris Duhon, admitted he had some jitters in his debut as the new Knicks starting point guard. Duhon had seven turnovers and missed six of seven shots.
"I was just playing way too fast; I was thinking way too much," said Duhon, who also had 10 rebounds and six assists in 31:06.
"Almost had a triple-double, except one of them was turnovers," D'Antoni cracked.
The final score was encouraging - as were a total of 29 assists for the team - but the asterisk next to this boxscore is that four-fifths of the Raptors' starting five were on the bench for most of the fourth quarter. Yes, a buzzkill. But overall it was an encouraging start for the new-look Knicks.
"I was pleasantly surprised," D'Antoni said. "I thought it was a good game . . . if we keep playing like that we'll be OK."
The most promising elements included strong play from the undersized frontcourt of David Lee (22 points and nine rebounds) and Zach Randolph (19 points and 13 rebounds) and impressive contributions off the bench from Nate Robinson (16 points, zero turnovers in 27:20) and Wilson Chandler (15 points). Both also had electrifying dunks in the game. Chandler elevated to the rim and popped one over Jermaine O'Neal in the second quarter that brought the Knick bench to its feet. But the entire crowd of 15,274 was buzzing after the 5-9 Robinson exploded along the baseline and rocked the rim with a John Starks-like dunk in the third that is sure to be a YouTube hit by this morning.
"It was fun," Robinson said of the game.
That's generally the foundation D'Antoni hopes to lay during the preseason, to get this team - this organization - back to having fun playing basketball. And he was loaded with enthusiasm after the game.
"I'm juiced up," D'Antoni said. "This is a good group. They play hard and they listen and they're trying. If they do that we'll be fine."
Notes & quotes: Stephon Marbury played 22:06 off the bench and had 10 points, three assists and five turnovers . . . Danilo Gallinari's workouts continue to intensify and the Knicks have an unofficial time frame of two weeks for his official debut, which should be in time for the final preseason game against the Nets on Oct. 24 at the Garden. His fellow Italian, Andrea Bargnani, said Gallinari is "a typical Mike D'Antoni player" when giving his personal scouting report: "He can do everything," Bargnani said. "He can play two guard, he can shoot and he can play with his back to the basket . . . He's a really good player." . . . Eddy Curry, who missed all of last week with a bacterial infection, dressed but did not play.
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Related topic galleries: Jermaine O'Neal, New York Knicks, Eddy Curry, New Jersey Nets, Viral Diseases, Basketball, Chris Duhon
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Copyright © 2008, Newsday Inc.
SOURCE: NEWSDAY
________________________________________
There is a growing speculation that Gallinari could be ready to play next week.
October 9, 2008
TORONTO - Mike D'Antoni checked the stat sheet of last night's 113-111 loss to the Raptors in their preseason opener and found as many positives as he could, but no matter how hard he looks he won't see the name Steve Nash anywhere. He's slowly building a corps of reliable lieutenants among the refuse left behind by the Isiah Thomas era, but a floor general has yet to emerge.
The player D'Antoni and Donnie Walsh tapped to take on that role, Chris Duhon, admitted he had some jitters in his debut as the new Knicks starting point guard. Duhon had seven turnovers and missed six of seven shots.
"I was just playing way too fast; I was thinking way too much," said Duhon, who also had 10 rebounds and six assists in 31:06.
"Almost had a triple-double, except one of them was turnovers," D'Antoni cracked.
The final score was encouraging - as were a total of 29 assists for the team - but the asterisk next to this boxscore is that four-fifths of the Raptors' starting five were on the bench for most of the fourth quarter. Yes, a buzzkill. But overall it was an encouraging start for the new-look Knicks.
"I was pleasantly surprised," D'Antoni said. "I thought it was a good game . . . if we keep playing like that we'll be OK."
The most promising elements included strong play from the undersized frontcourt of David Lee (22 points and nine rebounds) and Zach Randolph (19 points and 13 rebounds) and impressive contributions off the bench from Nate Robinson (16 points, zero turnovers in 27:20) and Wilson Chandler (15 points). Both also had electrifying dunks in the game. Chandler elevated to the rim and popped one over Jermaine O'Neal in the second quarter that brought the Knick bench to its feet. But the entire crowd of 15,274 was buzzing after the 5-9 Robinson exploded along the baseline and rocked the rim with a John Starks-like dunk in the third that is sure to be a YouTube hit by this morning.
"It was fun," Robinson said of the game.
That's generally the foundation D'Antoni hopes to lay during the preseason, to get this team - this organization - back to having fun playing basketball. And he was loaded with enthusiasm after the game.
"I'm juiced up," D'Antoni said. "This is a good group. They play hard and they listen and they're trying. If they do that we'll be fine."
Notes & quotes: Stephon Marbury played 22:06 off the bench and had 10 points, three assists and five turnovers . . . Danilo Gallinari's workouts continue to intensify and the Knicks have an unofficial time frame of two weeks for his official debut, which should be in time for the final preseason game against the Nets on Oct. 24 at the Garden. His fellow Italian, Andrea Bargnani, said Gallinari is "a typical Mike D'Antoni player" when giving his personal scouting report: "He can do everything," Bargnani said. "He can play two guard, he can shoot and he can play with his back to the basket . . . He's a really good player." . . . Eddy Curry, who missed all of last week with a bacterial infection, dressed but did not play.
E-mailShare Digg Del.icio.us Facebook Fark Google Newsvine Reddit Yahoo PrintReprint
Related topic galleries: Jermaine O'Neal, New York Knicks, Eddy Curry, New Jersey Nets, Viral Diseases, Basketball, Chris Duhon
All topicsGet breaking news | Most popular stories | Dining and Travel deals all via e-mail!
Copyright © 2008, Newsday Inc.
SOURCE: NEWSDAY
________________________________________
There is a growing speculation that Gallinari could be ready to play next week.