SOUNDING THE HORNACEK
Knick coach pushes back against Melo’s game plan criticism:
THE MORNING after Carmelo Anthony called out the Knicks for a lack of in-game adjustments, Jeff Hornacek directed the criticism towards the players — including Anthony — with a plea to get creative.
Hornacek highlighted Anthony’s miss with seven seconds remaining in Friday night’s loss to the Sixers, when the star forward turned away from the defense for a shot instead of passing out of a double team.
The Knicks were trailing by 1 at the time, and Anthony’s only options were to shoot or attempt a cross court pass to Kristaps Porzingis once he started to dribble.
“When they doubled maybe we could have picked it apart,” Hornacek said. “But I’m not sure he had anywhere to throw it once he turned to the baseline side.”
The coach said he called the play for Anthony out of the timeout, but that doesn’t mean players don’t have the green light to improvise.
“Stuff like that you just got to make plays out of it,” Hornacek said. “Even though Carmelo is probably the guy you want to get that last shot ... If they overplay it one way or another, you got to be able to figure that out, see it happen and see it develop and take advantage of that and not just say, ‘OK I’m going to get the ball to Carmelo.’”
Hornacek further absolved the playcalling when asked if the offense is too predictable down the stretch, as Anthony inferred Friday when he said, “We play the same way throughout the course of the game. And when teams make adjustments we’re still playing the same way.”
The implication is that the Knicks are getting outcoached. Anthony was not available to the media Saturday. But Brandon Jennings, who was waived by the Knicks after the trade deadline and signed with the Wizards, agreed there’s an issue with his former team and the triangle.
“I’m in the same position I was in New York, but just in a better system for me personally and with a team that actually plays together,” Jennings told reporters in Washington.
But Hornacek seemed to place the onus on the players, including Anthony, to break the monotony of Iso-Melo.
“I think maybe later in the game (we are predictable), but there’s different options off of that predictability or that set that they can do,” Hornacek said. “It can be into a corner pick and roll. But if we don’t come off — if we just throw it to Carmelo and stand, then it becomes predictable. But the guys are supposed to come off that, get to the corner. Melo, if he doesn’t have a good move there, that elbow shot, then he can go to the corner pick and roll and put pressure on them that way.”
The Knicks have had all sorts of issues late in games. They’ve blown double-digit leads. They’ve succumbed to several game-winning shots from the opposition in the final minute. Their failures down the stretch this season are the difference between being in a playoff position and sitting 4 1/2 games out heading into Saturday.
The blame shifts but it’s a problem on both ends of the floor.
“The last five minutes of the game, four minutes of the game, ramping it up (on defense),” Hornacek said. “We’ve seen it on the opposite end. There are times we get bumped. They’re not calling anything so I think sometimes we don’t give it up in the last four or five minutes of the game, get up in guys’ legs. We’re still trying to play our normal defense in terms of, okay, I’m up, not necessarily letting the guy drive. But we should be able to step it up and really get after guys at the end. If you end up getting called for a foul, you get called for a foul, but I think things are too easy for teams late in the games.”