‘Explicit’ message from Hornacek fires up Lee
The Knicks had just completed a first half that was … gee, what’s the word? Oh, right. Lousy. So coach Jeff Hornacek let his gang know, collectively and individually. “We came in here, watched film and coach kind of got on me,” Courtney Lee said. “I really didn’t like what was being said.” And what was said? “We challenged them,” was Hornacek’s polite way of putting it. “A little explicit. I don’t think I can repeat what he said to the media,” Lee said. “But we exchanged words and we went from there.” Where they went was a turnaround that went beyond 180. The Knicks put together their greatest run, 28-0, since the statistic was tracked starting in 1991-92. They outscored the Raptors, 41-10, in the third quarter and plowed through to a 108-100 victory Wednesday at the Garden where they still needed to thwart a Toronto comeback. Tim Hardaway Jr. took scoring honors with 38, but at the outset of the big splurge was Lee. “I thought Courtney got us going in that third quarter,” Hornacek said. No dispute there. Lee scored 11 points, passed for two assists and grabbed three rebounds in that third quarter on his way to a 15point night. He set the tone for the second half. “My mindset was just go out there and do whatever it takes to win,” Lee said. That he did. With the Knicks down 11, Lee scored the first four points of the third quarter for the Knicks, assisted the next two, then hit a 3pointer before later adding a midrange jumper and a layup. And most of it morphed into part of the 28-0 run.
“I knew we went on a run, I didn’t know it was that amount,” said Lee, who did exactly what Hornacek wanted. He responded. “That’s what you’re supposed to do as a player,” Lee said. “And not only did I respond but everybody on the team was out there and we played great defense in the second half.”
So much of it was an offshoot of his halftime — ahem — discussion with Hornacek.
“It was his opinion versus my opinion on effort and tactics and everything,” Lee said. “We got it corrected and we went out there and we competed. It’s contagious. One person goes out there and gives effort on the defensive end and then the next man is doing it. We even had Jarrett Jack, who’s 38, out there moving his feet.”
Hey, Jack is 34 but you get the idea. When you have a game like Lee did, you can take that sort of liberty.
“Courtney Lee did a great job of setting the tone early, just coming off down screens, regular pin downs, bigs focusing on KP so that he was open to get floaters, two point shots at the elbow,” Hardaway said. “He was playing smart and being aggressive.”
And responding.