KNICK NOTES
Whether Jeff Van Gundy was trying to use tomorrow’s trading deadline as a motivational tool was unclear. But last night before the Knicks faced the Heat, the coach indicated bad play is more likely to lead to a trade than not. However, Van Gundy, whose team was 1-3 after the All-Star break, did not think GM Scott Layden would “panic.”
“The better you play, the better chance you are of staying,” Van Gundy said. “The less results you get, as a team, player or coach, the less chances you have of staying. That’s how the business is.”
Van Gundy and Layden have talked in the past few days about whether the Knicks’ recent struggles are a blip on the screen or epidemic. The Knicks were 5-8 in their last 13 games before last night.
“You’re concerned that this may be who you are,” Van Gundy said. “But I’m not in a panic because I know what we need to do to correct it.”
Van Gundy’s been frustrated at the lack of defensive intensity the Knicks have shown recently in allowing 100 points to four of their last seven opponents before last night. The Knicks made up for their lack of height early in the season and were a decent rebounding team until lately.
“We can play better, we have to be willing to do more than most teams to shore up the areas we knew would possibly be weak coming into the year,” Van Gundy said. “Through first 40 games, we did a very good job of it. The last 12 we haven’t done a good job of it.
“With our size we have to go above and beyond, and I don’t think recently, particularly since the All-Star break, we are ready to go above and beyond.
“When talking about a trade, everyone’s trying to make themselves better,” Van Gundy added. “But I don’t have anticipation about it. We’ll either make a trade or we won’t. If we can get better we should. If we can’t, we shouldn’t.”
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Further clarifying his remarks about New York fans, Tim Hardaway said before last night’s encounter, “These fans understand what I was saying. You know there’s a lot of obnoxious fans out here around New York, they understand I wasn’t talking about the fans in here.
“I’m just talking about the fans in general outside the Garden. These fans are basketball fans. They understand what I was saying. They know I wasn’t saying they were [jerks].”