The Uptempo Coach’s Criticism

Mike D’Antoni has always been accused of not bothering coaching defense which is rediculous.  A lot of times people have looked at the amount of points per game his team’s have given up and automatically assumed that they were terrible defensively.  The truth is that in Mike D’Antoni’s uptempo system, they take shots quicker and therefore there are more possessions in the game for both teams.  So obviously teams they play against will allow more points because they get more chances than they would against most other teams.  This is why defensive efficiency, or points allowed per 100 possessions, is a much better measure of a team’s defense.  

George Karl brought his Nuggets to the Garden on Sunday and his teams of the passed have come under similar criticism.  He plays an uptempo style and always here the same things that D’Antoni has.  Ken Berger of Sportsline.com chatted with George Karl who had some interesting things to say about that type of crticism and of the new coach in New York:

“I feel for him,” Karl said after the Nuggets escaped the dreaded matinee at Madison Square Garden with a 117-110 victory over the Knicks. “My feeling is, when you give up a lot of points, nobody’s going to think you’re defending. Last year in our halfcourt defense, we were a pretty good defensive team. But no one would ever write that, because we were awful in transition and we were awful in giving up a lot of numbers. So I don’t know that anybody is ever going to give the due.”

On the cusp of the 30-game mark in D’Antoni’s first year in New York, the Knicks (11-18) are a far cry from the hardnosed, defensive-minded teams that had so much success in the 1990s. They also are nothing at all like the meandering teams that occupied basketball’s most famous venue for all the years since — bumbling along with no apparent plan other than spending money and committing the worst sin of all: failing to entertain.

The Knicks are nothing if not entertaining. For the first time in years, they inspire curiosity for the right reasons. The last vestige of the previous failed regime, Stephon Marbury, is enjoying a paid vacation until after New Year’s, when buyout talks will crank up again. Other than that, the Knicks are embroiled in the most drama-free six-game losing streak in their recent history. The Knicks are still losing, but who cares? Can’t you see the future?

Karl can. The first difference he noticed in watching film of D’Antoni’s Knicks is how frustrating they are to play. He noticed upon personal inspection that the energy has returned to the building, too. And it was nothing like the sky-is-falling drama that Karl remembers from past visits, such as the one marred by the infamous brawl between the Knicks and Nuggets two years ago.

“You can’t grow or build without a positive belief that this is going to be better in a year or three years,” Karl said.

There is reason to root for this team again, reason to hope. Many believe this is because of the future plans of a certain MVP candidate who wears No. 23 in Cleveland. In reality, it all emanates from a regular-looking guy with salt-and-pepper hair and a mustache, stomping around on the sideline in an expensive Italian suit and flashing indecipherable hand signals.

“Mike is an interesting hire,” Karl said. “My recollection of New York is the city game, the street game, the playground game. And he plays as fast and free as any coach I’ve ever played against. I know the Knick (teams) have been based on defense. But I was kidding with one of my assistants that I would like to see Mike D’Antoni get a Carolina or Kentucky or Kansas job, because people don’t think (his style) can win. People don’t think it can win championships. And I think that’s crazy.

“I think if you get the best players,” Karl said, “this style will be incredibly difficult to play against –- impossible, maybe, to play against. But we have so many experts who think that you have to play defense, you have to rebound, you have to be a possession coach, you have to execute. I just laugh. Explosive offense is not as intimidating as dominant defense. But it is scary when you don’t know how to stop someone.”