D'Antoni Not Worried About Knicks, His Job
NEW YORK (AP) — Mike D'Antoni insists he is not worried about his Knicks or his job.
"Can't panic. We are who we are, we've got to get better and panicking's not going to help," D'Antoni said Saturday before the Knicks hosted the Nets. "I could run out of here with my hair on fire, that's not going to help. We've still got to play the game and win. I might be panicking inside but I still believe in our guys."
The Knicks went into the game with an 8-15 record, a huge disappointment in a season that began with high expectations. That's triggered speculation that D'Antoni's job could be in jeopardy, but he said the chatter "doesn't do anything to me."
"If I do my job well, good things will happen. If we don't win, it'll happen," D'Antoni said, without saying what "it" was. "So I'm not worried one way or the other.
"That's one good thing about being 60 years old," he added. "You don't have to worry too much."
D'Antoni is in the last year of a four-year contract and has had only one winning season in New York, which was rebuilding during much of that time. This was expected to be the season the Knicks would contend with a front line of Carmelo Anthony, Amare Stoudemire and Tyson Chandler, but the rest of the team hasn't produced.
There is no proof D'Antoni is in trouble, because Knicks management hasn't spoken publicly since the season started. Donnie Walsh, the team president the last three seasons, regularly met with the media and always praised D'Antoni, but there's nobody to do that now.
Not that D'Antoni would want it.
"The great thing is you really don't have to read what people write. And I do like what (Toronto's Andrea) Bargnani said, when he said that criticism has two sides to it. One goes in one side and comes out the other," D'Antoni said.
"I'm doing and the players are doing the best they can do that we know, and we hope it works out. And our chemistry is pretty good, pretty solid on what we're doing and I think we're improving. We're getting close. After that, it's kind of up to the basketball gods and we'll see what happens."
The Knicks were coming off two of their best performances, close losses to Chicago and Boston over the previous two nights. But a loss Saturday would drop the Knicks below the neighboring Nets in the standings, so D'Antoni was asked if he considered the game a personal must-win.
"Yeah, I don't know what to say," he said after first joking about both teams' predicament. "Yeah. We have to start winning here soon, tonight would be a great time to do it."
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.
