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发帖数: 518 | 1 By HOWARD BECK
Published: March 19, 2012
GREENBURGH, N.Y.
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Bill Kostroun/Associated Press
Lawrence Frank started off 13-0 when he began coaching Jason Kidd and the
Nets in 2004.
On the night he made N.B.A. history, Lawrence Frank was the least impressed
person in the building.
“They can chart everything,” Frank said after winning his 10th straight
game to start his coaching career. “Next I’ll have the smallest feet as an
N.B.A. head coach. That’ll be another record.”
The night was Feb. 18, 2004. Frank had replaced Byron Scott as the Nets’
coach just 25 days earlier. When the Nets beat the Atlanta Hawks, Frank’s
record improved to 10-0, the best start in N.B.A. coaching annals.
But Frank had good reason to mock his achievement.
The interim-coach honeymoon is a well-established N.B.A. phenomenon. It is
as fickle as a reality-show marriage, which is why Mike Woodson is treading
cautiously.
Woodson, a coaching veteran, is three games and three victories into his
Knicks honeymoon. He knows how quickly these things can change.
The Knicks’ schedule will get tougher. Someone could sprain an ankle. The
jolt of anxiety and urgency that infused the locker room could fade. The
freshness of a new voice could wear off. The players’ focus could drift.
At 21-24, the Knicks have a loose grip on the Eastern Conference’s final
playoff spot. A single injury, shooting slump or motivational lull could
knock them out of the postseason race.
“We have long way to go still,” Woodson said Monday. “Absolutely, we do.”
The early results under Woodson have been impressive: a 42-point rout of the
Portland Trail Blazers, followed by consecutive victories over the Indiana
Pacers, by 15 points (at home) and 14 points (on the road).
Over three games, the Knicks allowed a combined shooting percentage of 39.1.
The Knicks are playing harder than they did in Mike D’Antoni’s final week.
Their defense is more intense. And Carmelo Anthony, who bristled under D’
Antoni, is noticeably more engaged.
“I think in the last three games, my focus just was to have an energy that
I haven’t had the first part of the season, especially on the defensive end
,” Anthony said.
There is more to the Woodson surge, however.
The Knicks’ defense naturally improved with the return of Tyson Chandler
and Jared Jeffries, their two best interior defenders, who were injured for
part of their six-game losing streak.
They beat a Portland team that was in total disarray (the Blazers fired
Coach Nate McMillan and made two trades the next day). Indiana is a quality
playoff team, but not a title contender. And the Knicks have beaten elite
teams this season (the Dallas Mavericks, the Los Angeles Lakers), only to
stumble again.
Will the good times last? That is the great unknown. N.B.A. history is
littered with momentary spikes, which rarely indicate long-term success.
In 2004, Frank stretched his record to 13-0, making him look positively
brilliant compared with Scott, who had a 22-20 record when he was fired.
Then reality set in, and the Nets went 12-15 over the final two months.
In early 2009, the Phoenix Suns fired Terry Porter after stumbling to a 28-
23 record. Alvin Gentry took over, and the Suns promptly won six of their
next eight games. Then they lost six straight.
Some honeymoons are shorter than others.
In 2009, Kiki Vandeweghe won two of his first three games as the Nets’
coach after replacing Frank and an interim coach. It was a modest winning
trend, but fantastic next to the Nets’ 0-18 start. Vandeweghe then lost 21
of his next 22 games.
It is not unusual for N.B.A. teams to plan ahead for a coaching change,
picking a soft spot in the schedule to allow the new coach the best chance
to start off well. Sometimes, players simply need to hear a new voice. If a
star player disliked the former coach, he may work twice as hard for the new
coach, just to prove he was not the problem.
“Everyone agrees it’s a players’ league until it’s time to assign blame
— and then it becomes a coaches’ league,” the former Knicks coach Jeff
Van Gundy said, speaking generally.
Van Gundy has experienced both sides of the equation.
The Knicks were 34-25 when he replaced Don Nelson in 1996. After losing his
debut, Van Gundy won four in a row and six of seven. Then the Knicks wobbled
to a 7-8 record over the final 15 games.
Van Gundy stepped down in December 2001 with a 10-9 record. (His replacement
, Don Chaney, had no honeymoon at all, losing four straight after winning
his debut.)
There is nothing revolutionary in Woodson’s approach. He is still using D’
Antoni’s offense, with minor additions, and the same defensive schemes. But
he has Anthony’s full support, which is significant in a league ruled by
star players.
Scott was fired when he lost Jason Kidd. D’Antoni resigned when he could no
longer reach Anthony.
In 1999, Shaquille O’Neal summed up the stakes by noting that when things
went bad for the Lakers, the blame would fall first on Coach Del Harris and
then on himself. As it happened, Harris was fired a few weeks later, with a
6-6 record.
Kurt Rambis inherited the job and promptly won his first nine games, tying
the N.B.A. record that Frank would later break. Naturally, the honeymoon was
short. The Lakers lost 11 of their next 24 games and were eventually swept
in the second round of the playoffs.
The Lakers dumped Rambis and hired Phil Jackson.
That is the sort of marriage Knicks fans can only dream about. |
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