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NEW YORK -- After another loss by the no-fun Knicks, the one voice that mattered the most resonated in the locker room. How far it carries will determine whether the Knicks make the playoffs or undergo an even more extensive transformation than the building in which they play in.
That is, if you can call this playing.
Amar'e Stoudemire stood at his locker and correctly diagnosed the problems with a team that can't get out of its own way with three superstars on the floor. Which is why coach Mike D'Antoni, hearing the first fire-the-coach chants since Isiah Thomas was roaming the Garden, chose to finish the game with two of those stars and their nearly $37 million in salaries sitting on the bench.
These are dark days for the Knicks, who hit a point of no return Sunday with a listless 106-94 loss to the 76ers, whom they treated like a pickup opponent at the YMCA rather than the likely winner of the Atlantic Division.
"I think we could've put up a better fight," Stoudemire said. "We've got to do a better job of knowing the importance of games. This was a big game for us, a conference and divisional team. We've got to do a better job of knowing that and really going after it."
The Knicks went after nothing but pity points Sunday, mailing in a home matinee that came one day after an 0-4 road trip -- that came one day before a game in Chicago against the Bulls (34-9), who have the best record in the NBA.
"Yeah, it's just definitely, definitely not easy," Stoudemire said. "We have Chicago and a lot of games within this month against tough, competitive teams."
And what Stoudemire was saying there without actually saying it is this, to borrow a phrase from "Coffee Talk" from the old Saturday Night Live days: The Knicks are neither tough, nor competitive. Discuss.
"We hit a snag and we seem to wither," D'Antoni said. For whatever reason, we haven't overcome any kind of obstacles. ... It seemed like we were down two and the world was caving in."
Yes, the Knicks were down two at halftime, 51-49, and then the world did cave in. Despite the fact that D'Antoni had warned them in the locker room that the Sixers are the best team in the league in terms of third-quarter point differential, they went out and watched Philadelphia ring up a 38-point quarter to take an 89-73 lead.
"It just didn't resonate with them," D'Antoni said.
A damning and straightforward admission from a coach on the last year of his contract who sees all the supposed promise of a star-studded roster with an out-of-nowhere point guard going down the drain. But it was hardly D'Antoni's boldest move of the day.
After the bench had led the Knicks back from a big deficit in Dallas, D'Antoni put Carmelo Anthony back in late and the Knicks lost by 10. So this time, D'Antoni left Anthony and Stoudemire on the bench for the entire fourth quarter. A lineup consisting of Jeremy Lin, Tyson Chandler, Iman Shumpert (replaced by J.R. Smith at the 9:51 mark) and Steve Novak stayed out there and cut the deficit to 10 before the Knicks lost by 12.
"These guys were fighting, they had us back," D'Antoni said. "I just didn't feel like it was fair to them to take them out and just try something else. I did it in Dallas, too. If guys are going to fight that hard and bring you back, I'm going to give them a chance to finish it off."
Throw in the fact that Anthony was 5-for-7 in the first quarter and 0-for-6 in the second and third quarters combined -- he was 11-for-12 from the foul line and finished with 22 points -- and it was hard to second-guess the coach on this one.
"I really don't know what was coach's mindset," Anthony said. "I'm not sure. That's something you have to ask him. ... Maybe he was saving me for [Monday] night's game. If that was his mindset, then I'm fine."
The problem with this dynamic for the Knicks is that Anthony has become an easy culprit for all things that ail them, and it's satisfying and way too easy to dump it all on him. Melo didn't go isolation-crazy in this game; he had three assists, one turnover and nine rebounds, and his shots came mostly within the flow. But there's no denying the results and the body language that go with them since he returned Feb. 20 from a groin injury.
The Knicks won eight of nine after Lin burst onto the scene off the bench Feb. 4 against New Jersey, and Anthony was involved only in the Nets game; he got hurt in the opening minutes two nights later in Utah. Since he came back, the Knicks are 2-7 and fading rapidly in what has become an unnecessary race for the eighth playoff spot in the East, with heads hanging, shots not falling and the "aura," Stoudemire said, "real low."
"We're just going through the motions right now," Stoudemire said.
And then Stoudemire, whose voice and leadership carry well beyond his own sub-par production of nine points in 28-plus minutes, pointed directly at the problem.
"We've got to continue to run the offense," Stoudemire said. "Coach has been stressing that all ... season ... long."
And he said it just like that: all ... season ... long.
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