Dec

17

D’Antoni, from T.K Marks

December 17, 2012 |

As far as emotional bloodsports go, there promises to be a bit of athletic theater at MSG in NYC tonight.

Mike D'Antoni and his Ritalin offense, both recently of the Knicks, come to town with his newest victims, the low-ebb Lakers, a roster of all-stars suddenly resembling the cast of a Jerry Springer show in their collective dysfunction.

Carmelo Anthony didn't exactly see eye-to-eye with D'Antoni when they were both here in NY last year so Melo is probably going to try to put on a show to rub it in to his erstwhile nemesis. While on the other hand, Kobe Bryant never likes ceding the spotlight to anybody so he's probably he's going to try light things up as well.

As for D'Antoni, this does not exactly shape up as a MacArthuresque return, as the crowd is probably not going to be very hospitable. There will be nothing genteel about any of this. D'Antoni probably won't need a Kevlar vest but a pocketful of Xanax might be strongly advisable.

Victor Niederhoffer comments: 

This was written before Antoni trash talked the team after his loss and boos. Someone has to say, "coach, it's not the players, it is your system". 

Uncle Howie Eisenberg writes in: 

Agreed. His system obviously doesn't work for the current Laker roster and he keeps trying to shove square pegs into round holes. He is the anti-Jackson who became the greatest coach or manager that ever lived by getting the most out of what every player brought to the table. Case in point: Instead of capitalizing on Pau Gasol's great ability inside which puts him among the top 3 power forwards or centers in the league, he has him on the perimeter where his outside shooting is middling and berates him for not being in shape to run full speed all the time. He (actually) is a Hatfield in need of a McCoy to run him out of town. Unfortunately Jim Buss by his early morning rejection phone call to the Zen Master has forever precluded the return of the guy who could have best exploited the 4 HOFers on the Lakers while enabling the others to transcend themselves.

As far as the defense is concerned I don't know whether it is as Felton said not getting back in time, or the over emphasis of the fast moving offense that causes players to either not put out on defense or maybe not have the energy to do it on both ends of the floor.


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