No, Nate Robinson, Mike D’Antoni Will Not Love Your Shot on Your Own Basket
The New York Knicks won today! They beat the Nets, which I believe is about the same level of competition as Montana junior varsity hoops, but it’s still a win. Nate Robinson must have known that win was coming. Why else would he take a shot -- and make it -- on his own basket as time expired in the first quarter? Certainly, it wasn’t a deliberate attempt to provoke Mike D’Antoni into the sort of mustachioed rage that would be YouTube gold. Right?
⇥The period ended with a livid D’Antoni yelling at Nate Robinson after the Knicks guard shot at the wrong basket after taking an inbounds pass with 0.5 seconds left, instead of just letting the clock run out.⇥⇥⇥The shot went in just after the buzzer, nearly giving the Nets three points.⇥⇥
⇥⇥“He was like, ‘What if it went in?”’ Robinson said. “I was like, ‘My bad.’ I waited to the buzzer went off. He talked to me about it and to be ready to play.”⇥⇥
Ready to play? For the Knicks? D’Antoni’s motivating his charges incorrectly: He should be encouraging his players to subvert the rules of the game, score for the other team, and then crush them with fourth-quarter rallies that are sparked by their Stockholm Syndrome-afflicted opponents, cackling all the way. It’s the incentive to beat teams in entirely novel and implausible ways that will get Robinson and Co. in the right frame of mind to take home a championship this year.
And if you think that's ridiculous, I have a story to tell you about a basketball superstar going to a moribund franchise next summer.
(HT: Ball Don’t Lie.)
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This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.
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