D'Antoni looks to end home game commutes

One of the first decisions Mike D'Antoni made in his first season with the Knicks in 2008-09 was to eliminate morning shootarounds for home games. The MSG Training Center is a state-of-the-art facility, but its location in Greenburgh makes it a tricky -- and potentially lengthy -- commute on game days for players who don't live in Westchester County. Amar'e Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony live in Manhattan.

D'Antoni held a shootaround Monday mainly, he said, because he wanted to give the team a day off Sunday after the sixth back-to-back of the month. He wouldn't commit to it as a permanent change.

"It depends on the schedule and stuff," D'Antoni said. "New York's a little bit different from other places. I don't know if having Amar'e in the car for two hours in the morning before a game is the way to go . . . If we can get our work done the day before, then I don't think that's the way to go."

The Knicks have tried various methods when it comes to home shootarounds. Lenny Wilkens used to hold shootarounds at the Garden to get the players more familiar with their home court. To alleviate traffic and commuting issues, players who lived outside the city had the option of spending the afternoon at a midtown hotel.

A lot of teams, such as the Magic, have built practice gyms into the plans for their new arenas to keep their locations centralized. D'Antoni had that situation in Phoenix at US Airways Arena. But the $1-billion Garden transformation won't include a practice court to replace the campus in Greenburgh, which opened in September 2002.

Knicks fix

Ronny Turiaf missed his second straight game with a strained left ankle. He has missed 16 games this season with various injuries . . . During a first-quarter timeout, Walt Frazier, who turns 66 Tuesday, was presented a large bowl of his favorite -- make that only -- junk food vice, Snickers bars.