Derrick Rose’s attack mentality hurting Knicks at defensive end
Knicks guard Derrick Rose looks to make a play in the fourth quarter against Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2017. Credit: Jim McIsaac
MILWAUKEE — Derrick Rose knows only one way to play, and that’s to attack the basket. But Jeff Hornacek said it puts the Knicks at a disadvantage defensively when Rose doesn’t convert or get fouled.
Hornacek would like to see Rose kick it out to his teammates more or make sure he draws more fouls on his drives.
“We’ve still got to trust our teammates,” Hornacek said Friday. “If he drives in there and he’s open, he takes the shot. If they collapse and they come in on him, he’s got to be able to kick it out.
“We’ve got to be able to get him to the free-throw line. Get six, seven points at the free-throw line will help us. When he goes in there and doesn’t finish, the [other] team scores seems like 95 percent of the time when they go in the other direction. He’s out of the play, he’s underneath the basket and the other team is off to the races.”
Rose believes he’s drawing contact but is not getting the benefit of the calls. He’s attempting 3.7 foul shots per game. He shot 6.9 per game in 2010-11, when he was named MVP, and 6.1 in 2011-12. This was before knee surgeries slowed him, but he has regained that explosiveness.
“All I hear from the refs is they don’t see the fouls whenever I do go in there,” Rose said. “They say they don’t see the foul. I don’t know if I’m too fast or I play through contact. I can’t help it that I’m strong.”
Hornacek believes Rose sometimes does get fouled, but he thinks the way he goes to the basket also could be limiting the calls he gets.
“Sometimes he’s giving kind of the double-pump in there, which when a referee sees that, they think he’s just avoiding the contact,” Hornacek said. “Derrick has looked at it. He knows he needs to get to the free-throw line more. He probably will try to be more aggressive going at guys rather than avoid them and try to make the shots. He’ll mix that up.”
Hornacek shrugs off no-call
The NBA’s “Last Two Minute Report” revealed that Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo committed a five-second violation (dribbling with his back to the basket below the free-throw line extended for more than five seconds) before hitting the winning shot at the buzzer against the Knicks on Wednesday night. Hornacek shrugged it off. “Means nothing,” he said. “Like I said after the game, they’re never going to call anything like that at the end of a game.”
When asked the last time he remembers a five-second violation called, he quipped, “When was [Charles] Barkley playing?”
Al Iannazzone covers the Jets for Newsday after spending nearly two decades on the NBA beat with Knicks and Nets.
