Woodson: 'Don't Think I've Lost Locker Room'
By Ohm Youngmisuk | ESPNNewYork.com
Head coach Mike Woodson says he does not think he has lost the New York Knicks locker room or any individual players.
The Knicks lost their sixth straight game in Portland on Monday night and Carmelo Anthony and Amar'e Stoudemire both say the Knicks aren't having any fun as frustration mounts. Stoudemire also said the Knicks need to improve their ball movement.
'I don't think I have lost the locker room,' Woodson said during his weekly show on 'The Stephen A. Smith and Ryan Ruocco Show' on ESPN New York 98.7. 'I don't think I have lost players from an individual standpoint. What I have lost is a Tyson Chandler and a Raymond Felton, that is what I have lost from my starting team.
'And I don't know if you can go on any roster and take two starters out of their roster and they still survive,' Woodson added of his two injured starters. 'They might play in spurts like we are doing today. I am not making excuses but I would sure love to take my chances with Tyson and Raymond in my lineup.'
Woodson said he planned to have a 'long sit down and air it out' with his team in practice Tuesday in Los Angeles about comments that came out of the Knicks locker room before and after their 102-91 loss in Portland on Monday.
The Knicks (3-10) have lost seven of nine games since Chandler went down with a fractured right fibula. They have also played the last four games without Felton, who is out with back and hip injuries.
Frustration has grown with each loss in the Knicks locker room. After Monday's loss, Stoudemire said his frustration level was 'at an all-time high' and that the Knicks need to pass more.
'It's hard for any player to get a good rhythm when the ball don't move,' Stoudemire told reporters in Portland. 'I have been playing my entire career when the ball moves and everybody ends up having a career year. When the ball don't move, guys can't get into a rhythm, they don't touch the ball often enough to get into a rhythm and it makes it tough for the rest of the teammates to have fun out there.
'Right now we are not having fun,' Stoudemire continued. 'And the ball is not moving. We are playing one pass, one shot at this point. Teams that move the ball win. Teams that don't lose. It is pretty simple.'
Anthony said before the defeat to the Blazers that the losing also has taken a toll on him.
'When you're losing it's not fun,' Anthony told reporters at the Monday morning Knicks shootaround. 'Are we having fun on the basketball court? No. The game is not fun right now. When you start pressing, pressing, pressing it makes everything that much worse. So no we're not having fun playing basketball.'
Woodson said those comments by Stoudemire and Anthony must be addressed within the team at Tuesday's practice before the Knicks take on the Clippers on Wednesday.
'I am not going to air out our stuff (on) the air like that,' Woodson said. 'I am going to address that in the locker room today when we have practice. There are a number of things that you can point the finger at. I always look at the defensive end first because that is where it starts.'
'I will address that,' he added. 'It is a reflection on all of us. Me being the coach and guys that go out there and play, it all goes hand in hand.'
Ohm Youngmisuk is a regular contributor to ESPNNewYork.com.
ESPNNewYork.com
Post a Comment for "Woodson: 'Don't Think I've Lost Locker Room'"