Rodriguez Gets the Point in Loss to Bucks
It didn't take long before Mike D'Antoni turned to Sergio Rodriguez to run the point.
In just his second game since joining the Knicks at Thursday's trade deadline, D'Antoni moved Rodriguez into the starting lineup, and the flashy point guard recorded a Knicks season-high and career-high eight steals in an 83-67 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks at Madison Square Garden on Monday night.
"Sergio got big steals and did some things," D'Antoni said. "Hopefully, we can iron out the offense a little bit and just try to be a little bit more fluid."
It will certainly take some time for the Knicks – who acquired five players in two separate franchise-changing deals at the deadline – to get on the same page offensively, especially since the newcomers haven't had a chance to practice with their new teammates yet. While Rodriguez had one of the best defensive efforts we've seen from a Knick this season, he wasn't able to jumpstart his team on offense.
The speedy Rodriguez looked comfortable with the ball in his hands and didn't have any problem finding his teammates, but the Knicks were unable to knock down shots. New York often passed up open looks as it finished the night shooting a disappointing 33.8 percent from the field en route to its season-worst seventh straight game. Rodriguez had just one assist after recording eight in a loss to Oklahoma in his New York debut on Saturday.
"I don't want to make too many excuses," D'Antoni said, "but obviously we weren't real familiar with what we were doing and with each other. The first night we ran on adrenaline and kind of got through it. I thought we didn't really have a lot of pop. The ball didn't really move and stopped. Guys were hesitating. They seemed lost."
The Knicks' run-and-gun offense was especially missing in the second half when New York scored just 26 points on 11-for-37 shooting. Seven-time All-Star Tracy McGrady, who was obtained from Houston five days ago, was held to 15 points, while first-time All-Star David Lee had 12 points and 13 rebounds.
"We're learning on the fly," said McGrady, who scored 26 in his first game with the Knicks.
McGrady started at shooting guard for the second straight game, but he was a step slower than he was in his New York debut after bumping knees with an opposing player in the first half. He received treatment in the locker room during halftime but came up limping after draining a 3-pointer with 3:16 left in the fourth quarter, which happened to be the Knicks' last points of the game.
The good news, however, is that the injury has nothing to do with McGrady's microfracture knee surgery last season and he's hoping to play Tuesday night against the Celtics in Boston.
"I'm going to do the necessary treatment, do some when I get up and we will see how I feel before the game," he said.
Rodriguez replaced Chris Duhon in the starting lineup in just his second game with the team. Duhon had been struggling to find his offensive rhythm for most of the season after having a breakout year in his first season with the Knicks in 2008-09. Duhon received a DNP-CD for the first time since joining the team.
"It's a tough position, first of all," D'Antoni said of Duhon's situation prior to the game. "With the flux of the team up and down, a lot of things can get in your head. It's hard for me to know exactly what factored, but there just doesn't seem to really be a pop there right now. We're just going to try something new."
The addition of Rodriguez provides the Knicks much-needed depth at point guard and a player who can get to the rim and kick the ball out to shooter along the perimeter. Now, he just needs his teammates to knock them down, which will certainly happen once the chemistry builds up.
"Some night we will do better, some night we will do worse," Rodriguez said. "There's going to be ups and downs during this end of the season. I mean, we haven't practiced together yet so we'll see."
