Knicks start focusing on rebounding

GREENBURGH, N.Y. - The Knicks are back from Europe, and talk officially has turned from team bonding over pasta dinners to discussing what exactly they need to do to get ready for the season.

"We had a great experience," Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni said Saturday after a practice that lasted nearly 2 hours, 30 minutes. "Now we've got [18] days until we open up, and those days are crucial for us to keep pushing forward."

If D'Antoni were to compile a to-do list of things that need to be worked on before the team opens the season at Toronto on Oct. 27, addressing the team's rebounding situation would have to be at the top of it.

In their 106-100 preseason loss to Minnesota in Paris, the Knicks lost the rebounding battle 62-35. The Knicks' starters had four rebounds, even though every player logged more than 20 minutes. Amar'e Stoudemire had only two rebounds and center Ronny Turiaf and guard Wilson Chandler didn't grab a single board.

D'Antoni bristled when a reporter called the statistic "alarming," saying that a lot of it was because the Knicks "missed a lot of shots." The Knicks shot 40 percent in the game, identical to what the Timberwolves shot, but had 10 more attempts.

"We're fouling too much and giving too many second-chance points," D'Antoni said. "We take that away, we'll be fine. I don't think it's alarming. But it's something we have to cure."

Rebounding is where the loss of David Lee is likely to hurt this team the most. He averaged 11.7 rebounds last season, tying him for third in the league. Stoudemire has averaged 8.9 rebounds in his career.

"Amar'e is a good rebounder, not a great rebounder," D'Antoni said. "It's not one guy. This has to be done by committee. But we will get it done and figure it out."

Stoudemire said rebounding was a big focus at practice.

"We have to have better effort rebounding," he said. "It's just the second game of the year preseason, but we had to make sure we covered that topic. We have to make sure we focus in on that area."

The Knicks' first home preseason game is Wednesday night at the Garden, and Stoudemire said the team has some definite goals for that game.

"We definitely want to set the tone,'' he said. "We have some goals to accomplish. We want to show that we're dedicated to bringing better basketball. Our goal is to become a better basketball team, to do a lot better than we have in previous years and hopefully make the playoffs."

Notes & quotes: The Knicks are holding an open practice at the Garden Sunday, but all of the tickets already have been distributed . . . D'Antoni on Danilo Gallinari, who was 3-for-13 against the Timberwolves: "We'd like him to take a big step up this season. It will be up to him where he goes. Hopefully, he will take another step forward." . . . Chandler did not practice because of a cold.