When the day started, Mike D'Antoni was still coach of the struggling team, mired in a 0-6 skid.By evening, the Knicks had an interim coach, assistant Mike Woodson, and were flying high after routing the Portland Trail Blazers 121-79 at Madison Square Garden.
The players said they were blindsided by D'Antoni's departure. He was with them at the morning shootaround and said he would see them at night at Madison Square Garden.
Instead, the players were hit with a blizzard of text messages and phone calls asking what was going on.
"Nobody saw this coming," said forward Carmelo Anthony, who scored 16 points and had a season-high-tying seven assists after recent losses had worn him down.
"I had a brief conversation with him this morning about the direction of the team, what we needed to do and where we were headed. He ran shootarounds this morning. I went home, took a nap. (When I woke up) I had 30-something messages. That's when I found out."
Anthony said there was "no bad blood" between himself and D'Antoni, whose departure could impact point guard Jeremy Lin the most. It was Lin whom D'Antoni turned to and made a starter during Anthony's absence with a groin injury.
Lin, who fit well in D'Antoni's offensive system, responded by spurring the team to a seven-game winning streak.
Lin said he still had not connected with D'Antoni, although the two had swapped phone calls and text messages.
"I am sad to see him go," Lin said.
The Knicks came out with a "chip on their shoulder (and) obviously wanted to get Coach Woodson his first win as our head coach," Lin said. "I think defense led the way."
Amar'e Stoudemire, who also played for D'Antoni with the Phoenix Suns, said he thought the coach was frustrated by the team's recent struggles.
"I respect his decision he made for himself and his family. We have to respect that and have to move forward," Stoudemire said.
The Knicks next play Friday at home against the Indiana Pacers.
Smith led the Knicks with 23 points, hitting seven three-pointers, and Steve Novak hit for six as part of his 20 points.
"It was the true definition of a roller-coaster, you know?" Smith said of the day. "Everybody came into the shootaround excited about tonight. Then once we heard it, we went straight down. Then the game started and we went right back up. Now you have to come back down after the game."
Novak said: "When you're winning, everything is right. When you're losing, everything is wrong. Tonight, we got that losing streak, we got that feeling, out of our system. We shot the ball well. A lot of guys played well. We won by a lot."
Anthony, in particular, seemed to want to prove he's not a selfish player Wednesday with his load of assists. And when Smith went off on his three-point barrage in the second half, Anthony came off the bench waving a towel and leading the cheers.
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