Mike D'Antoni feels fans' pain

The Knicks were expected to be much better than they are. D’Antoni said they should contend for a championship this year. But the Knicks have played more like a Lottery team and the fans have let them and D’Antoni hear it.

“They’re right,” he said. “I think every coach understands you can’t come out and play bad and think I’m doing my job. It’s not working. We’ve got to change some things up and try to get it better. It’s my responsibility at the end of it.”

Stoudemire botched several layups or dunks in Friday’s loss to the Bucks and his health was brought up afterward. He quickly dismissed that something is wrong with him.

“I feel great,” Stoudemire said.

He’s not playing great, but no one on the Knicks is.

“I think some guys feel the fatigue more than others,” D’Antoni said. “You’d have to ask him. But [Friday] night I didn’t see a big pop in his athleticism. It’s hard to focus on one thing because it’s a combination of things that we’ve got to settle.”

“I thought we just didn’t play very well,” D’Antoni said. “I thought we tried too much to get into that fight,” D’Antoni said. “That’s not what we have to do. That limits your ball movement, movement on the floor. We definitely didn’t back down. I thought maybe toward the end we participated too much.”