Mike D'Antoni Might Be Barkin' Up the Wrong Tree

As many who read this blog know, my favorite league in all of sports is the NBA, and it's been glorious having it back with the opening week of the season. Well every part of it except the Wiz kids lackluster loss to the Nets the other night. And just to let you know, I am not in full blown panic mode just yet. Remember, this team also started out 0-5 last year and still were able to rebound even without Gilbert.

Right now, the goal is to stay .500 until Gilbert gets back and then see where you are once he returns to full health. Although, I've been having some weird dreams about the Wiz sneaking into the playoffs as the seventh seed and ending up playing a two-seed Cleveland Cavalier squad.

A team that I thought wouldn't even dream of sniffing .500, the New York Knicks, is sitting at 1-0 currently. It appears as if Mike D'Antoni's free wheeling style has them much improved. That or they finally decided to bench Isaiah's prime time pick ups like Stephon Marbury and Eddy Curry.

Well, an interesting story came out of that first Knicks win. While the players on the court were busy running and gunning past the Heat, 120-115, apparently some fans in Madison Square Garden started longing for the one and only Starbury. It got an an awesome response from Mike D'Antoni:

With some in the Garden crowd surprisingly chanting "We Want Steph" with 11:10 remaining in the fourth (others booed the chant), a stewing D'Antoni was caught on MSG Network cameras Wednesday in a tirade, mouthing:

"You've got to be (bleeping) kidding me. You've got to be (bleeping) kidding me. What a bunch of (bleep) holes."

Seriously, I liked D'Antoni a lot from thanks to his classic hissy fits as coach of the Suns. But I'm not really sure how New York is going to react to this. I guess after the game, once D'Antoni realized his reaction had been caught on camera, he tried to explain himself:

"Sometimes I don't think the fans quite get it," D'Antoni said. "It's like who you draft. They're going to boo. When you make a big decision, someone's going to like it, someone's not. You'll hear from the people who don't.

"Did I look exasperated?" D'Antoni added. "I was into the game. You get so much adrenaline at that point and you react. I'm into the game, into the moment. Sometimes I can be better than that. I'll make mistakes. I'll do better."

If I'm Knicks fans, I embrace the guy. Frankly, you're lucky to even have him considering he had a real nice situation with Steve Nash in Phoenix.