Tina's Tales from Milwaukee
News and notes from the midwest
by: Tina Cervasio
Monday, March 9th & Tuesday, March 10th
It's cold, rainy and cold.
The team flight rolled into cold and rainy Milwaukee around 5:30, Monday night. No offense to anyone who's from the area, but there really isn't much going on here.
In the elevator Jared Jeffries is talking about how this particular hotel is haunted. So he tells me some of the stories – yes, ghost stories – about lights going out, TVs turning on, items in the room being moved, and we start chatting about other hotels on the professional sports circuit that are also haunted, where various athletes have had their ghostly encounters.
Jared said it was only on certain floors in this hotel. As I got off on my floor, I told Jared I'd keep him updated if I ran into any ghosts. He said, "NO THANKS!" That stuff freaks him out. (cue ghostly, haunted sounds)
Thank goodness, I had no run-ins. But by now it's too late to do a brewery tour and to dreary for a sightseeing stroll. So I worked out, spent some time on the internet getting up to date on the College Conference Tournaments getting underway, and decided to delve into my steamy vampire love novel. (I may work in a man's world, but I'm still a girly girl at heart.)
Tuesday morning, in a mist that also greatly fogs the area, I grab a cab and head to the Bradley Center. I don't have my credential yet (the teams deliver our credentials in a media packet to the team hotel), so after explaining to one of the really nice Bucks employees I'm heading to Knicks Shootaround and don't have my credential, I show him my Knicks/MSG credential. He's totally cool about letting me in. Since it's my first time at the Bradley Center, I then ask for directions to the visiting locker room, and he starts giving very complicated directions. Luckily, Coach D'Antoni and his assistant coaches burst through the door, and I politely say, "I'll just follow these guys." Good timing.
Here's a look at my notes and prep from shootaround, and how I got organized for the game. I know you're a Knicks fan, so I know you saw the great game, and Larry Hughes' 39-point performance. So you can compare my notes to what made it to air on MSG.
Pre-Game w Al
Knicks late game execution ... what's causing the problem ... what has coach been talking about with players (SOT from D'antoni)
down the stretch ...
Coach D'Antoni sez .... "We don't have a whole lot of set plays, we don't call people's numbers out, we play basketball. Not saying that calling people's numbers out isn't the right way to play. The way we play: the ball's gotta move, we need to find energy and find the right shot, if that's an outside shot or taking it to the basket, that's our system and that's how we play. The ball doesn't need to stop. I've been disappointed a little bit in different parts of the game when the ball stops ... and we don't really find the best shot and sometimes we settle for shots that are not your good shots. Those are things we have to overcome. And we haven't done that, in a constant matter. When we do ... we look pretty good, when we don't we look pretty bad. That's something we'll keep working at to get better."
Against New Jersey ... in the final minutes:
Coach D sez ... Defense got stickier, tighter ... And you need a go-to kind of player, not always even a player, but an action. It was the pick-and-roll earlier in the game, but they kind of shut that off ... and we don't have a real post-up player, and when you don't have different options, the ball needs to keep moving and we're just not real good at that sometimes.
In general ... If a player is playing well, like Danilo Gallinari, he will use him in the final minutes. "I would like him on the court, but you have to make some decisions, at that point, who do you like? Al, Gallo, Wilson, David, Larry, Duhon, Nate? Four positions with six guys that I'm juggling, that's where I'm struggling. I don't know game-to-game the best combo for the final minutes. You have to hunt and pick, you make a decision, but you could mess it up. I'd like to get a set role, that I know that's what we're going with, but I'm not there yet. The whole process is just not real solid.
Pre-tip Report – "move the darn ball"
It's March ... 20 games to go ... and Mike D'Antoni still has to remind the Knicks to "move the ball". Al Harrington says the team "has" bought into that concept, and they do keep up the ball movement, but there's just some times when guys think that they can go, and they take the shot. Harrington says there's no selfish players here, The Knicks are always trying to share the ball and make that extra pass, and you'll see it in spurts throughout a game, but at times, the ball stops, or they're not passing it to the player with the best open shot. So depsite the fact that the end of the season is near, "moving the ball" is still a "work in progess", because as Harrington says, we're just "not consistent with our passing".
In-game:
Larry Hughes on Defense
Right out of the gate, Mike D'Antoni liked what he saw in Larry Hughes' defense. But Hughes admits that since the trade, he's still making adjustments on defense, because of the new system, and that the Knicks are really still coming together as a team on the defensive end of the court. Hughes says the biggest difference for him is all of the switching. He's not used to so much switching through the course of the game. He's also talked to the coach about the Knicks needing to play better to the weak side, as well as just "getting to the ball" on defense. Hughes says getting to that point of having solid defense ... it's a process.
Talk to:
Knicks assistant coaches
- on defending: Richard Jefferson, Ramon Sessions ... Charlie Villanueva
- film sessions with players ... working on anything specific?
- last minutes of games (execution of plays ... determining combos)
- "encouraging" duhon
Gallinari ... What part of game has improved the most?
What have you noticed is the biggest difference between Europe and the NBA?
Bucks locker room:
- 1. playoff mindset
- 2. possible sweep of Knicks
- Charlie Villanueva about "taking Sessions under his wing". What he's said to him? How has he come along?
- Richard Jefferson ... life in Milwaukee compared to Jersey (since the writers keep harping on this dreadful trip in the "rust belt") ... how temn is overcoming loss of Michael Redd
I literally completed my check list.
Talked to Asst. Coach Herb Williams about those topics, caught up with Gallo in the hallway as he came off the court. Spent a lot of time chatting with Richard Jefferson in the Bucks locker room. My husband works for the Nets on game nights (cue the gasps and screams here), so it was easy to break the ice with him and catch up, but he gave me some great stories and tidbits, especially on who has stepped up after injuries and how he really wanted to sweep the Knicks for the season series.
Which we now know they didn't!!!
Villanueva was super cool too, especially talking about Ramon Sessions.
Good stuff. Good game. Off to even colder Michigan.
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