GREENBURGH, N.Y. — The practice court at the Knicks’ training center appeared especially shiny Saturday. It had not been used in a while.
Players lingered long after the closing huddle broke to build a little more sweat, shoot a few more jumpers, play a few more games of one-on-one, soak in the team’s first practice in 16 days.
Coach Mike Woodson was remiss that the Knicks were not able to get enough wind sprints in to account for all the conditioning time his players has missed.
“We’ve got some touches we’ve got to make up here,” Woodson said. “I think the players forgot about it.”
As the San Antonio Spurs made headlines by resting players for games — and being fined for doing so — the Knicks were doing it behind the scenes, the Allen Iverson-preferred way. Practice? Is that what we’re talking about? And Saturday’s practice run was essentially another walk-through, Woodson said, since the Knicks face the Suns on Sunday at noon, their fourth weekend matinee game already this season.
He added with a wink that Tuesday’s practice would be one with some “sweating,” in case one might think the Knicks are getting off too easily.
“I’m going to try and get a nice full piece of them,” Woodson said.
The lack of practice time could be explained by a tight early-season schedule. The Knicks played 15 games in 29 days to start the season, although seven N.B.A. teams have played as many as 17 games already. The Knicks, however, are the oldest team in the league.
Resting players has been a hot topic in the league this week. Much was made about Spurs Coach Gregg Popovich’s decision to sit four star players for a nationally televised game against Miami on Thursday. The team was fined $250,000 by Commissioner David Stern for what he called “a disservice to the league.”
The N.B.A. does not regulate how often a team needs to practice, and coaches vary in their approach. Woodson is normally in the practice-preferred camp. But he has a veteran roster that does not need a lot of coaching and drilling.
The drawbacks have been in conditioning as well as giving some of the bench players opportunities to work out and shoot.
“For guys that don’t get many minutes, they lose timing and that’s important,” Woodson said. “You have to have some kind of rhythm and timing to feel good about what you’re doing on the floor and you’re not just doing it on the fly.”
He was speaking, in part, about the 38-year-old backup center Marcus Camby, who has not played since Nov. 26 against Brooklyn and is averaging just 7.7 minutes per game. Fans chanted his name at the Garden on Friday, with the Knicks up by 20, yet Camby remained on the bench.
When asked Saturday if the lack of playing time has frustrated him, Camby smiled and simply said, “We’re 11-4, 11-4, 11-4.”
Camby added that he has heard the crowd.
“It’s great to have the Garden faithful behind me, as they had been during my first tour of duty,” Camby said.
Woodson has not given much in the way of an explanation for Camby’s disappearance down the depth chart. He said after Friday’s game that he opted to play the younger big men instead. The rookie forward Chris Copeland played 12 minutes and the third-year forward James White played 9.
“Marcus is a pro and he understands,” Woodson said. “He’s here for the long haul.”
EXTRA POINTS
Amare Stoudemire (left knee surgery) did conditioning work and some individual drills at the facility Saturday but Mike Woodson said he still did not know when he would be ready to practice. ... Guard Jason Kidd (back spasms) did not practice and has been ruled out of Sunday’s game.
Source : http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/02/sports/basketball/their-schedule-full-knicks-make-rare-visit-to-practice-court.html?ref%3Dbasketball