Vets Look to Continue Strong Play on Knicks Kids Day
Dec 5 2009 11:20PM
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Rookies Toney Douglas and Terrence Williams fittingly face off at The Garden on Kids Day.
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It might be Knicks Kids Day at The Garden when the New Jersey Nets visit on Sunday, but Mike D’Antoni's veterans have come up big the past week as New York looks to continue turning its season around.
“I like the young guys and I’d love to play them but I would like to be a fan and watch them and not coach them because it’s tough,” Coach D’Antoni said following Friday’s 114-107 win in Atlanta. “We still got 62 games left so let’s try to play well.”
While D’Antoni is confident in his yonuger players, but he’s more comfortable right now with the veterans to guide the 5-15 Knicks in the right direction. The only freshman or sophomore player who has been set in the rotation throughout the season is Danilo Gallinari, who missed Friday night's win in Atlanta with a right forearm injury and could be out against New Jersey.
Al Harrington, a 12th-year forward, replaced Gallinari in the starting lineup against the Hawks for the first time since the third game of the season and played a major role in the Knicks’ second impressive win in three games. Harrington made nine of his first 10 shots and finished with 27 points.
Joining Harrington in the starting five was Chris Duhon, Wilson Chandler, David Lee and Jared Jeffries, who made his fourth start of the year. The first player off the bench was Larry Hughes, while rookies Toney Douglas and Marcus Landry played limited minutes to fill out the eight-man rotation.
“I thought Toney played well,” D’Antoni said. “He played pretty good defense. He messed up like a rookie does, but he’ll grow from that because he wants to do it and he plays with a lot of energy.”
The youngsters are learning from the veterans each day. Douglas, who admittedly needs to work on his point guard skills, could view Duhon’s recent play as the perfect example of how to run the Knicks’ up-tempo offense.
Duhon played the pick and roll to perfection with Lee on Friday. When the defenders dropped down to cover the big men down low and went out to the shooters along the perimeter, Duhon swooped his way to the basket, finishing the night with a season-high 25 points to go along with 10 assists.
“When Chris and Al are playing that way, they’re both two guys who can get hot shooting the ball,” said Lee, who had 18 points and 17 rebounds of his own. “That really helped us especially in the first half. In the second half, we just ran our stuff and stayed disciplined.”
The Knicks could add another veteran to the rotation sometime next week as Eddy Curry works his way back from a knee injury. The center practiced with the team for the first time in two weeks on Saturday and will likely need a few more practices before he returns to game action.
In the meantime, the Knicks will look to win two in a row for the second time this season against the Nets in a matinee matchup. New Jersey, coming off is first victory in 19 games this season, features a young lineup that the Knicks’ veterans have already taken advantage of this season.
After sweeping the Nets in three preseason games, the Knicks won 98-91 in New Jersey in the first of four regular-season meetings between the teams this season.
“I like the young guys and I’d love to play them but I would like to be a fan and watch them and not coach them because it’s tough,” Coach D’Antoni said following Friday’s 114-107 win in Atlanta. “We still got 62 games left so let’s try to play well.”
While D’Antoni is confident in his yonuger players, but he’s more comfortable right now with the veterans to guide the 5-15 Knicks in the right direction. The only freshman or sophomore player who has been set in the rotation throughout the season is Danilo Gallinari, who missed Friday night's win in Atlanta with a right forearm injury and could be out against New Jersey.
Al Harrington, a 12th-year forward, replaced Gallinari in the starting lineup against the Hawks for the first time since the third game of the season and played a major role in the Knicks’ second impressive win in three games. Harrington made nine of his first 10 shots and finished with 27 points.
Joining Harrington in the starting five was Chris Duhon, Wilson Chandler, David Lee and Jared Jeffries, who made his fourth start of the year. The first player off the bench was Larry Hughes, while rookies Toney Douglas and Marcus Landry played limited minutes to fill out the eight-man rotation.
“I thought Toney played well,” D’Antoni said. “He played pretty good defense. He messed up like a rookie does, but he’ll grow from that because he wants to do it and he plays with a lot of energy.”
The youngsters are learning from the veterans each day. Douglas, who admittedly needs to work on his point guard skills, could view Duhon’s recent play as the perfect example of how to run the Knicks’ up-tempo offense.
Duhon played the pick and roll to perfection with Lee on Friday. When the defenders dropped down to cover the big men down low and went out to the shooters along the perimeter, Duhon swooped his way to the basket, finishing the night with a season-high 25 points to go along with 10 assists.
“When Chris and Al are playing that way, they’re both two guys who can get hot shooting the ball,” said Lee, who had 18 points and 17 rebounds of his own. “That really helped us especially in the first half. In the second half, we just ran our stuff and stayed disciplined.”
The Knicks could add another veteran to the rotation sometime next week as Eddy Curry works his way back from a knee injury. The center practiced with the team for the first time in two weeks on Saturday and will likely need a few more practices before he returns to game action.
In the meantime, the Knicks will look to win two in a row for the second time this season against the Nets in a matinee matchup. New Jersey, coming off is first victory in 19 games this season, features a young lineup that the Knicks’ veterans have already taken advantage of this season.
After sweeping the Nets in three preseason games, the Knicks won 98-91 in New Jersey in the first of four regular-season meetings between the teams this season.
