The Knicks are trying to get back to the playoffs for the first time since 2013, when a 54-win team’s run ended in the Eastern Conference semifinals against the Pacers.
Mike Woodson was the coach during that season, and watched he group fall in Indiana in game six thanks to one game-changing play, a block by Roy Hibbert on a Carmelo Anthony dunk attempt with the Knicks up by two, trying to force a game seven back at Madison Square Garden.
In an interview with the New York Post on Saturday, Woodson recalled the Knicks’ last playoff game, and his last with the Knicks now that he has left Tom Thibodeau’s coaching staff to become the head coach at Indiana University.
“It changed the series,” Woodson said of Hibbert’s improbable rejection. “It sent us home, basically…Hibbert makes the big block on Melo at the rim. If Melo was able to complete that play, we’d probably be playing Game 7 at home and perhaps a chance to go to the Eastern Conference finals, but it didn’t happen that way. You gotta give Hibbert credit, ’cause he made a helluva block.”
The Knicks have been trying to get back to the postseason ever since, and even after a three-game skid since Woodson left the staff, this year’s group has a good chance of finally ending that drought, currently sitting at seventh in the Eastern Conference.
Thibodeau has received plenty of credit for New York’s surprising turnaround, and Woodson had high praise for the Knicks’ first-year head coach.
“He’s very organized, and he’s persistent in how he wants to play on both ends of the floor, and defensively, he’s off the charts without a doubt,” Woodson said. “I couldn’t be more proud working for him when I was there, and I’m rooting big-time for him, because I have a great deal of respect for how he coaches.”
Woodson won 50 games in his first season as the Knicks head coach, and as New York tries to get back to the postseason for the first time since Woodson was at the helm, he will be beginning his next chapter, at the helm of his alma mater.
“We were able to turn that team around and flip it in a short period of time, and unfortunately, I wasn’t able to stay there to finish it off after Phil [Jackson] came in,” Woodson said. “But that’s neither here or there. The bottom line is it was a great run for me, it was a learning experience for me as a coach, and now, I’m here at Indiana University trying to figure it out. My next challenge.”
Follow Ryan Chichester on Twitter: @ryanchichester1
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