Mike Woodson On Hot Seat As Knicks Head Into All-Star Break
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) — New York Knicks coach Mike Woodson expects to still have a job next week.
We'll see what happens, but Wednesday night's 106-101 loss at home to the last-place Sacramento Kings didn't help his cause. At all.
"We can't go back and get this game," Woodson said. "We didn't finish the game. I think we played well in spurts. We just didn't get it done."
New York finished the first half at 20-32. The reigning Atlantic Division champions have already lost more games than all of last season and continue to battle injuries and speculation that coach Woodson's job is in jeopardy.
"I am not thinking about that at this point," forward Carmelo Anthony said of the coaching situation. "That has been an ongoing issue, ongoing story. Every day is a new story so he is still here and that is what we are dealing with."
Anthony had 36 points and 11 rebounds for the Knicks but flopped at the finish, missing a potential winning shot in regulation before blowing a layup on the first possession of overtime. Playing 48 minutes, he was scoreless in the extra session.
@JoeGiglioSports He's done a bad job this year- but does Herb Williams or Allen Houston really solve this mess?
— John Jastremski (@john_jastremski) February 13, 2014
"I didn't expect us to be in the situation that we're in right now. If somebody would have told us that before the season, I'd have put any amount of money that they were lying," Anthony said. "But we're in this situation right now and we've got to fight through it."
The Knicks played without J.R. Smith, who broke a cheekbone Sunday at Oklahoma City and was uncomfortable with the protective facemask he was supposed to wear, which he didn't receive until Wednesday. Iman Shumpert then left in the second half with a strained left hip flexor.
Amar'e Stoudemire scored 20 points off the bench and Tyson Chandler had 17 points and 11 rebounds for the Knicks in a game Anthony had called a "must-win."
Woodson said earlier this week that he thought he'd survive the All-Star break despite reports that his future with the team is tenuous at best.
"Unless you guys know something I don't know, then the only thing I can say is I'm going to be back," Woodson said Monday. "Unless you guys know something, I'm the coach of the Knicks, and that's all I know at this point."
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