Suns' loss is Knicks' gain -- Stoudemire
PHOENIX - There was a time in the heyday of Mike D'Antoni's Suns when the appreciation - and perhaps jealousy - reached all the way to New York. Isiah Thomas said he envisioned the Knicks becoming "Suns East'' someday. So with D'Antoni now on the Knicks' sideline and Amar'e Stoudemire dominating in the pick-and-roll, has Thomas' vision come to fruition?
"We're not the Suns East,'' Stoudemire said with the emphasis of one of his blocks. "We're the New York Knicks and we're playing great defensively. We're going to take that momentum on the defensive end throughout the rest of the year.''
As Stoudemire made his return to U.S. Airways Arena Friday night, it is impossible not to make a connection between the demise of the Suns and the rise of the Knicks based on the uniform he is wearing. Last season, Stoudemire and the Suns reached the third Western Conference finals of his tenure. This season, they entered Friday night five games under .500 and falling out of the playoff chase in the West.
"I knew it wasn't going to be the same once I left,'' he said. "I just didn't know how great the impact was going to be.''
Suns guard Steve Nash seemed to have an idea. "We lost an All-Star power forward,'' he said, "and we didn't replace him.''
The Suns still run most of the offense that D'Antoni authored during his coaching tenure here. On the whiteboard in the Suns' locker room before the game was a message that said, "N.Y. uses our playbook.''
Actually, D'Antoni took that playbook with him to New York and, he said, "I think we brought a big piece. He's sitting right over there.''
D'Antoni, who had his frustrations with Stoudemire in Phoenix, has done nothing but rave about him since he got to New York. "Where we were, what he's done,'' D'Antoni said, "you couldn't ask for anything better.''
Perhaps two years of losing with a rudderless roster brought him some religion. "You don't win without good players,'' D'Antoni said.
And it seems the appreciation is mutual. Stoudemire was asked if D'Antoni perhaps is a better coach now than he was during his years in Phoenix. He decided to look in the mirror.
"I wouldn't say that. He won coach of the year back in Phoenix,'' Stoudemire said, referring to the 2004-05 season. "But I think from my standpoint, I've been a better player than I was in Phoenix. I try to improve every year. Hopefully, I'll be a better player next year than I am this year. You want to continue to improve every single year, every summer.''
Stoudemire called D'Antoni "a genius on the offensive end'' and again was quick to bring up the importance of defense, something he often used against D'Antoni in the past. "I think for us now, the difference is we're starting to figure out how to play defense,'' he said, "and we're starting to buy into it . . . [D'Antoni] has players that are willing to play defensively from the point guard down to the center position.''
Perhaps what the two couldn't accomplish in Phoenix can be achieved in New York.
"We have a solid team right now. We don't really need much,'' Stoudemire said. "We're playing well and we feel with the team that we have, we can be very successful if we keep improving as individuals and as a team on the defensive end.''
