Knicks eliminated from post-season by Atlanta Hawks in race for eighth spot.
New York Knicks coach Mike Woodson is blaming himself for the team’s failure to make the playoffs and apologised to the fans for the disappointment this season.
The Knicks missed out on the post-season to the Atlanta Hawks after they secured the eighth and final playoff spot with their win over the Miami Heat on Sunday.
Despite a recent upturn in form, New York ultimately gave themselves too much to do after a terrible start to the season and a summer of change is likely to be ahead.
Having won 54 games and an Atlantic Division title last season, expectations were high for Woodson and the team with ambitions of ending the long wait for a championship.
However, he has failed to deliver it and has particularly been apologetic to the supporters who continued to support the team during Sunday’s win over the Chicago Bulls.
“I mean, you can point the fingers in a lot of directions. And I’m not going to sit here and air that out. I mean, at the end of the day I’m the coach and I didn’t get it done. It’s just that simple,” Woodson said, as reported by ESPN.
“There’s a lot of factors that came behind it, but you can’t sit here and complain about it now. We didn’t get it done. Being the coach, I just apologize to the fans. Again, they earned their hard earned money to come see us play and we didn’t come into this season expecting this.”
Meanwhile, Carmelo Anthony has insisted that the blame shouldn’t squarely lie with Woodson, and believes that the team must take part of the responsibility for failing to make the playoffs for the first time in four years.
“We all are part of that,” Anthony said. “As a coach he’s going to say that. He’s supposed to say that. I would say the same thing. I would put it on my shoulders and say the same thing. We all played a part of this year.”
Woodson conceded that while he would like to test out some of the younger players on the roster in the remaining two games, he is unsure of his own future beyond this season as new team president Phil Jackson may choose to move in a new direction.
The Knicks coach was keen to prevent any of the blame being put on Anthony, which will be another key area this summer as the Knicks star is set for free agency.
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