Knicks Off to the Races, Beat Heat 120-115 in D’Antoni’s Debut
Friday, October 31st, 2008 | College Football, NBA, NHL, Sports
The New York Knicks defeated the Miami Heat 120-115 in Head Coach Mike D’Antoni’s Knicks head coaching debut at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The Knicks seemed to thrive under D’Antoni’s up tempo style. Controversial guard Jamal Crawford scored 29 points, going 13-29 from the field with four 3-pointers and 7 free throws. Crawford also added 4 assists and 4 rebounds. Center Zach Randolph chipped in 20 points and 9 rebounds, forward David Lee added 16 points and 11 rebounds and forward Wilson Chandler tallied 17 points and 9 rebounds. Starter Quentin Richardson also scored 16 points, giving the Knicks 6 players in double-digit scoring.
After an even 1st quarter, the Knicks outscored the Heat 32-18 in the 2nd quarter to take a 15-point advantage into halftime. The Knicks scored 60 points in each half, but had to hold off a resurgent Heat team that scored 40 points in the 4th quarter. Winning only 23 games during the 2007-8 NBA season, the Knicks looked like a revived team under D’Antoni. D’Antoni emphasized that his team would always play hard and would put on entertaining performances during the 2008-9 NBA campaign. On opening night D’Antoni and his team did not disappoint. Whether this turns into an every night occurrence remains to be seen. The talent is definitely there, but the players will need to commit to D’Antoni’s style and not get down when they lose a couple of games in a row. Under former coach Isiah Thomas, there tended to be a lot of finger-pointing when things went south. Under D’Antoni, that won’t be tolerated. Each player will be held accountable for his consistent play, and if D’Antoni senses that someone isn’t giving his all, he’ll send someone in the game who will.
As for the Heat, rookie head coach Erik Spoelstra did not have the same success with his new team that D’Antoni did. His team got off to a slow start, and by the time they got back in synch, it was too late. The Heat did have 5 players score in double-digits – including Dwayne Wade with 26 points, 9 assists and 7 rebounds; Udonis Haslem with 23 points and 10 rebounds; Shawn Marion with 14 points and 11 rebounds; and Mario Chalmers with 17 points, 8 assists and 7 rebounds. 2nd overall pick in the 2008 NBA Draft Michael Beasley had a lackluster NBA debut. He scored only 9 points and pulled down only 4 rebounds.
