Mike Woodson's got the Knicks playing "DE-FENSE" like it's 1995. |
Yes, we all understand very clearly that the Knicks are 8-1 since Mike Woodson took over. We get it,
'Melo is back, Steve Novak can't miss and that "Mobb Deep" is a great nickname for one of the league's finest benches. But the foundation for all of this fun was laid when Glen Grunwald decided to add defensive guru Mike Woodson and a few solid defensive pieces to the superstar combo of STAT and 'Melo. Just because the Knicks weren't winning games in the beginning of the year doesn't mean they weren't playing defense, even under the trigger happy D'Antoni. No one noticed it because no one notices anything good when you're 8-15 and underachieving worse than Lebron in the fourth quarter. People also don't acknowledge defense when your old coach doesn't recognize defense.
So beyond all the drama and "Linsanity" that has encapsulated the New York Knicks, we could have seen this coming from a mile away, though it still probably hit us like a freight train. If the Knicks were going to get real and actually "contend" they were going to do it by playing a defense-first game. I wasn't too keen on D'Antoni, but was pretty confident once Mike Woodson took over. This guy did take a much less talented Atlanta Hawks team as far as any other Hawks team has ever gone. He had a pretty successful stint of coaching in Atlanta and he was unfairly fired because he was given a group of street ballers who didn't know anything but isolation. Now that the Knicks are 8-1, allowing a ridiculously low 86 points per game, and 'Melo's channeling his inner Willis Reed, Woodson looks like a inspirational genius, a guy that can get even the most selfish of players like J.R. Smith to play with passion and play within the system.
But just like the product he wants on the court, Woodson won't be satisfied with 8-1 and won't stop for a minute to enjoy the response his team has had to him. He knows the Knicks must chug forward without Amar'e Stoudemire. He knows he's going to have to work hard to keep the Knicks effort at a playoff level. But if there is one safety net, is that this team really knows how to play defense. Thanks to the on-court leadership by Tyson Chandler, who's slowly looking like the best free agent pickup of the offseason, the Knicks "no defense" jokes are no longer funny or relevant. This team's defense is for real and because of it this team is for real.
The Knicks weren't going to win anything with Mike D'Antoni under the helm. No games are won in the playoffs at the score 121-120, that just doesn't happen. So turning to an interim coach with a serious penitence for defense might have just been the right move for good. The Knicks have won all types of games in this stretch. They took Danny Granger's trash talk and shoved it right back down his throat in back-to-back games. Next they slugged it out with the Sixers and won the game despite Rosie O'Donnell-ugly offense. After that they had basically a playoff game with the Bucks, and once again won because of defense. Then came last night where everything came alive, both the suffocating defense and the explosive offense. Last night was the New York Knicks at their premium and that is how they're going to win going forward. Iman Shumpert will shutdown everyone he plays and Chandler will completely deny the paint. Everyone else will chip in on pure effort, pure heart. 'Melo will take over on the offensive end and Lin and Davis will control everyone else. The emphasis, under Woodson, will always be on defense and the offense will build off that.
This is the team we have been yearning for all these years Knicks fans. It's a slight return to the 90s when effort and defense were the only way the Knicks were going to win. The "DE-FENSE" chant will actually mean something. Don't always expect it to be pretty, and don't always expect 25-point blowouts but expect winning. If the Knicks continue to play defense at such an astonishing level, the worries about Amar'e's back will subside and confidence will ensue.
We, as Knicks fans, were unfairly transitioned away from the style of basketball we desired under D'Antoni. New York is about effort and heart and our Knicks have always been about defense. Well it looks like Mike Woodson is bringing us back to those ways and I hope he'll stay.