By JOSH NEWMAN
Special to ZAGSBLOG
NEW YORK – A 116-107 loss to the Knicks in Mike D’Antoni‘s return to Madison Square Garden on Thursday night left the Los Angeles Lakers at 4-9, including four straight losses, under D’Antoni.
The losses are mounting, as is the perceived frustration with so much expected of this group this season.
NEW YORK — Carmelo Anthony was off to yet another special night.
The kind of night that results in 40, 45, maybe 50 points.
There’s no telling how many he would’ve finished with had he not gone down with a left ankle injury in the third quarter of the Knicks 116-107 victory over Mike D’Antoni and the Lakers at Madison Square Garden.
Anthony had already amassed 30 points in 22 minutes — the most by an NBA player in that span since 1995 — when he was fouled by Dwight Howard and landed awkwardly midway through the third.
So what might’ve happened had Anthony avoided the injury that has left him day-to-day?
“He’s exploding,” Knicks center Tyson Chandler said. “He would’ve for sure got to 40. After that, no telling. He still had a quarter and half to go and he already had 30. So I don’t think it’s a close game if Melo’s in the game. It was just an adjustment we had to make on the fly.”
The seven Catholic schools have decided to leave the Big East Conference and strike out on their own, according to a report from Mark Blaudschun of USA Today.
ESPN’s Andy Katz also cites a source saying the “decision is made,” according to his colleague, Brett McMurphy.
“I don’t think it’s a done deal but it’s as close as it’s ever been,” one Big East source told SNY.tv. “If it was ever going to happen, this is as close as it’s ever going to be.”
Added a second Big East source: “It definitely appears to be moving in that direction.”
It remains unclear when the seven schools — Providence, DePaul, St. John’s, Seton Hall, Georgetown, Marquette and Villanova — will make an announcement on the decision.
Rutgers AD Tim Pernetti announced Thursday that men’s basketball head coach Mike Rice has been suspended three games without pay and fined $50,000 due to a violation of athletic department policy.
The suspension is a result of inappropriate behavior and language, and Brendan Prunty of The Star-Ledger reported that Rice threw basketballs at players’ heads during practice in his first or second season.
Associate head coach David Cox will serve as the team’s interim coach, beginning with Sunday’s home game against UAB. Rice will return to his duties as head coach January 2 at Syracuse.
“It’s a difficult situation certainly,” Pernetti said in a conference call with reporters, according to Matt Sugam of SNY.tv. “I was made aware of some things in the last
GREENBURGH, N.Y. — Mike Woodson will coach the Knicks Thursday night against his former boss, Mike D’Antoni, who makes his first appearance at Madison Square Garden as head coach of the troubled Lakers.
The two teams are headed in opposite directions, but Woodson took no opportunity to gloat or take shots at the man who brought him to New York as a defensive specialist only to ultimately replace D’Antoni.
The Lakers are sporting a 4-8 record under D’Antoni and a 9-13 mark overall, while the Knicks have won seven of eight, are a perfect 8-0 at home and own the best record in the Eastern Conference at 16-5.
“I wish [D’Antoni] the best till we play him because it’s all about the New York Knicks now as far as I’m concerned,” Woodson said Thursday after shootaround.
North Carolina coach Roy Williams watched Andrew Wiggins go for a double-double of 17 points and 18 rebounds Wednesday as Huntington (W.V.) Prep crushed the University of Charleston JV, 99-53.
“He said he’d see us at the City of Palms,” Huntington coach Rob Fulford said of Williams.
Huntington will play games Friday and Saturday in Kentucky and before heading to the City of Palms Dec. 20 in Fort Meyers, Fla.
The Big East is on the brink of breaking up.
According to reports from the Providence Journal and ESPN.com, the seven Catholic schools in the conference are on the verge of breaking away from the Big East Conference and going their own way. Both reports said the seven schools would have a conference call with Commissioner Mike Aresco Thursday and then announce their plans within the next 24 to 48 hours.
An athletic department leader at one of the schools told the Journal Wednesday that “the train has left the station. Get on board or get run over.”
Sources told ESPN.com that it “would be an upset” if the Catholic schools remained in the Big East.
When asked if the Catholics were splitting, a separate Big East source told SNY.tv, “It sure appears that way.”
