David Fizdale got to see the Knicks at their best on Friday.
Fizdale led the team in practice — seemingly the only place his team thrives — on Friday, following back-to-back shameful losses to the Bucks and Nuggets. The pressure around Fizdale’s job has reached a high point after a 129-92 loss to the Nuggets on Thursday night at Madison Square Garden.
“I don’t think about that stuff,” Fizdale said after practice. “I don’t think about it at all. I go into – every day is I come in here, I see 17 guys that I’ve got to make better and I see a team in Indiana that we’ve got to try to go out and beat. I take it day-by-day that way. Even if we were on a 16-game winning streak,
“I would be going about it the same damn way. Just focused on that. I think it keeps my mind clear and it allows me to keep them in a good space where they’re connected and that they’re fighting for each other.”
Fizdale’s hot seat has been percolating since team president Steve Mills and GM Scott Perry held an impromptu press conference nearly four weeks ago stating that expectations were not being met. Fizdale has mentioned wanting to run a faster-paced offense, though that could be challenging with the forward-heavy roster constructed for him,
“I’ve had to adjust and it makes it difficult, but it’s also a different way that we have to do it,” Fizdale said. “We have to be willing to advance the ball with the pass and it’s not always a guy pushing the ball up the court and really getting guys to commit to running the floor hard regardless of if you’re faster than somebody or not. But just making those commitments to getting your bodies up the floor and the guy with the ball willing to advance the ball with the pass and then we get into actions quicker and hopefully give ourselves more opportunities and possessions.”
The 4-18 Knicks play the Pacers on Saturday at home and then leave for a West Coast trip.
“I’m still coaching this team,” Fizdale said after the Nuggets debacle. “I’m still pushing them, still preparing them. We had a hell of a practice before this one.”
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