For the Knicks, eight is enough. Or not.
Mike D’Antoni’s decision to shorten his rotation to eight players has paid dividends for the Knicks over the past two weeks, as they found surprising prosperity in building a four-game wining streak before it ended Tuesday night in Charlotte.The Knicks’ 94-87 loss to the Bobcats was perhaps an indication that on certain nights, D’Antoni may need to abandon his current paradigm of only using three men off the bench. Really, he used only two subs versus the Bobcats, as Eddy Curry played an insignificant five minutes and fifty-eight seconds.The ongoing conspicuous absence from the lineup is Nate Robinson. Certainly, he can provide infinitely more production than Curry given the large one’s inability to make the slightest positive impact. But the little one is buried deep on D’Antoni’s bench with no apparent light at the end of tunnel. He has become, to a far lesser degree, this season’s version of Stephon Marbury. For the moment, D’Antoni has rendered Robinson persona non grata.The last anyone has seen of Robinson for an extended duration on the floor was November 29 at the Garden, when he scored 22 of the Knicks’ team high 24 points in the final quarter alone in a 114-102 loss to the Orlando Magic. The next game, on December 1 against the Phoenix Suns, a 126-99 Knicks blowout, Robinson played only 11 minutes.Since then, the 25-year-old fourth-year veteran has received six straight “DNP (did not play) Coach’s Decision” in the box scores. It’ll unquestionably grow to seven after the Knicks face the Bulls tonight (Thursday) in Chicago unless Robinson is D’Antoni’s last available player.He and Robinson met in Atlanta on December 4 prior to the Knicks’ 114-107 win to supposedly work out their issues. The Knicks were 4-15 when the chat occurred. “We’ll sit down {and} just try to sort some things out,” D’Antoni said at the time. But Robinson has stayed in exile as his team has crept to 8-16. D’Antoni has held that Robinson’s lack of focus and his repeated acts of on court immaturity, such as intentionally shooting at the wrong basket against the New Jersey Nets nearly a month ago, have led to his deportation to the pine. Yet on nights like Tuesday, the Knicks could have used him.Nevertheless, D’Antoni and the organization have boldly demonstrated, as evidenced by the Marbury banishment, they are willing to go the distance to affirm who has the upper hand.