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Three games into the season, Knicks lack discipline, effort
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Mike Krzyzewski is the premiere coach in Division I Men’s College Basketball. In his 29 years as head coach, his Duke University Blue Devils have won three national titles and amassed a record of 760-215. Wins on any athletic level create tradition for your organization or program. On the college level, creating a tradition translates into a top recruiting class for your team. This is why the Blue Devils are able to compete year in and year out in one of the best conferences in the country. Plus, no matter what your opinion is of Duke, you cannot argue Coach Krzyzewski’s attention to detail, the affection he holds for his players and, most importantly, his dedication to a highly disciplined, well-rounded basketball squad.
Chris Duhon is a product of the Duke basketball system. You can see it in how he handles himself both on and off the court. His time spent under Krzyzewski’s wing has had a huge factor in his being named starting point guard and captain of the New York Knicks.
Today, Duhon faces his fair share of criticism. It’s not all unwarranted: three games into the season, he is shooting a mediocre 30 percent from the field, certainly not the numbers you want from your team’s floor general. But as the captain of the Knicks, it is encouraging to see quotes like this one, after the Charlotte Bobcats game this past Friday:
“A lot of us weren't taking the game serious, joking around, not really preparing for the game and it showed.”
The game against the Cats was another disappointing turnout for the Knicks, as they lost 102-100 in double overtime. While Duhon certainly could have handled this situation differently (i.e., in the locker room and not in the media), as a Knicks fan, you have to be a little encouraged to see that someone on the team is holding the rest of his teammates accountable for their actions (granted, this did not seem to have an effect on Saturday night until halfway through the fourth quarter when the Knicks, after being down as many 23 points, made a comeback only to lose the game in overtime).
The rest of the team could learn a thing or two from Duhon. What the Knicks lack right now is discipline. There were hints of it at the end of the game against the 76ers on Saturday. The team finally woke up, clamped down on defense (kind of) and began working together on offense––basically everything they weren’t doing in the first three and half quarters of the game.
Yet, during the post-game press conference, it was business as usual from D’Antoni:
“Again, another night that we need to build on. I know that we are 0-3, I understand that… We want to accentuate the positives, we want to build on it, and obviously that means the first quarter has to be better.”
But even with the 0-3 record, there is still light at the end of the tunnel. Danilo Gallinari, after his career-high 30-point effort against the 76ers on Saturday, is currently averaging 50 percent from beyond arc. And Larry Hughes, who made his first appearance of the season on Saturday, could turn out to be a huge factor for the team after his 18 point, five rebound, six assist performance against Philadelphia.
The key now is to channel that fourth quarter adrenaline into the beginning of each game and stay focused for the full 48-minutes. Even on the professional basketball level, where players are constantly accused of laziness, you want to avoid your teammates calling you out in the press, especially in New York City. Let’s see if Duhon can help feed his leadership and discipline onto the court and into his teammates for tonight’s game against New Orleans.
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