by Lillo V.
Mike D'Antony's system has proven not only to be a losing system but also not fun to watch at all in New York, so far.
I don't know if the system could work with the right players. As someone consistently pointed out, the one in Phoenix was more a Steve Nash system than a D'Antony one. One sure thing is that if you take a shot in the first seconds of an action or in transition, you take defending time (and effort) off the opponent. Therefore, Knicks spend much more time playing defense than offense and the opponent, struggling less time in defense, is going to be much fresher during the consequent offense action. This is why players usually kick ass at MSG. True, it's the Mecca of basketball and it has the best crowd in the world but I think it's more playing versus the Knicks than playing at the Knicks. When I say the Knicks I mean the system. I don't recall anybody scoring 51 at the Garden, while Van Gundy or Thomas were at the wheel.It's easy to blame it on players, such as David Lee, for not having tenacious D, but it's the system not the player that takes all D fatigue off Al Horford and make him look like the freshest Karl Malone. Aftermath: Horford averaging a little more than 12, drops 28 at the Garden. He is the man and Lee is bad on D. Easy but not true.
Of course if you have the right players, if you have a high percentage shooting, if you are good on defense, and if you are a frontrunner team then the run and gun could be a winning system and great fun to watch. At this state of things, run and gun is a utopia system that brings the worst out of the Knicks and the best out of the opponents.
