Latest news with #D'Antoni
Time of India
2 days ago
- Sport
- Time of India
Coach Mike D'Antoni reveals how NBA legend Shaquille O'Neal's game inspired him to reshape basketball
How did NBA legend Shaquille O'Neal's domination inspire coach Mike D'Antoni to reshape basketball? (Image Source: Getty) Mike D'Antoni has transformed the Phoenix Suns, with the sole goal of countering the NBA legend Shaquille O'Neal's dominance on the basketball field. With newer possibilities, D'Antoni has been able to reshape the NBA and has done it brilliantly. Shaquille O'Neal was unbeatable, says Mike D'Antoni The Phoenix Suns hadn't been performing well, so by the end of the 2003-2004 NBA season, Mike D'Antoni took over as the head coach. It was D'Antoni's job to change the game and reshape the team as much as he could. Back then, NBA legend Shaquille O'Neal was playing for the Los Angeles Lakers, and the team was unbeatable, with him being one of their brilliant players. While speaking on the 'On Point' podcast, D'Antoni explained how they came up with a solid plan while focusing on winning, and making it even harder for the team to defend. He said, 'It started, excuse me, earlier in my career, and I thought in Europe when I was coaching in Europe, that's the best way to play and was working, Obviously, then you come to the NBA, you have better players to do what I always thought that needed to be done.' D'Antoni said as per Lakers Nation, 'A big driving force was that Shaquille O'Neal was the center in Los Angeles, which is in our division. And we always said among ourselves, you can't out Shaq Shaq. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Amazon CFD : La clave para un ingreso extra (Conoce más) Empezar ahora Registrarse Undo You can't just trot somebody out there and think you're gonna get the best of Shaq. So we had to figure out a way to beat him. And that was to speed the game up, take more 3s and spread them out, and then they give us a chance to win.' While Shaq left after a little while, what D'Antoni taught the team stayed with them. It changed the way basketball was taught and played, and high speed and being able to pass the ball as quickly as one can, meant everything. He said, "Getting the ball in quick, getting all guys to believe in what we're doing to run the floor, spread 'em out and beat Shaq down the floor or beat any big down the floor. And as players got used to it, also a side effect of the other team having to play at that pace that they never practiced, and they never did it.' Also Read: 'Get Your Hands Off Me': Shaquille O'Neal Throws Stephen A Smith Out During Pregame Show In A Lighthearted Moment D'Antoni was aware nobody was able to stop Shaquille O'Neal. His focus was completely on speed, and even bigger players couldn't possibly match the level.
USA Today
02-06-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Mike D'Antoni: Lakers legend was behind 'pace and space' revolution
Mike D'Antoni: Lakers legend was behind 'pace and space' revolution Back in the 1990s and early 2000s, the NBA was a league that was infested with slowdown basketball. Almost every team routinely walked the ball upcourt and milked the shot clock, and the result was scoring and shooting percentages plunging to levels not seen in decades. Ratings and fan interest sagged, and something needed to be done. The league instituted a number of rule changes starting in the mid-1990s, but none of them helped. The change that was necessary needed to come from within. In the early 2000s, the Sacramento Kings came within a whisker of winning the NBA championship by employing a freewheeling, run-and-gun style of offense. A few years later, the Phoenix Suns, coached by Mike D'Antoni, took that style to a new level. Those Suns teams immediately became championship contenders and reached the Western Conference Finals three times in six years. D'Antoni made a surprising admission while on the "On Point" podcast that Los Angeles Lakers superstar Shaquille O'Neal was a huge influence on his offensive philosophy. "A big driving force was Shaquille O'Neal was the center in Los Angeles, which is in our division," D'Antoni said. "And we always said among ourselves, you can't out Shaq Shaq. You can't just trot somebody out there and think you're gonna get the best of Shaq. "So we had to figure out a way to beat him," D'Antoni continued. "And that was to speed the game up, take more 3s and spread them out, and then they give us a chance to win." D'Antoni became the head coach of the Suns early in the 2003-04 season, which was O'Neal's last season with the Lakers. They didn't do too well that season, but they did rank sixth in pace. The following season, when Hall of Fame point guard Steve Nash came on board, their revolution began in earnest. They led everyone in both pace and fast-break points, and they were the first NBA team in many years to reach 110 points a game. It took over a decade, but eventually, most teams had adopted at least some of D'Antoni's "Seven Seconds or Less" offensive philosophy. During the 2018-19 season, NBA teams averaged 111.2 points a game, the first time the league average was over 110 points per game since the 1985-86 campaign, and it was also the first time in over 20 years that teams averaged over 24 assists per game. Although many have complained about excessive 3-point attempts over the last few years, D'Antoni helped make NBA basketball beautiful again. "Pace and space" basketball, as well as quick ball movement around the horn, is now the norm across not just the league but the entire sport.
Yahoo
17-04-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
LeBron James to Steve Nash: 'Seven Seconds or Less' Suns pioneered modern NBA
LeBron James and Steve Nash discussed the "Seven Seconds or Less" Phoenix Suns, led by head coach Mike D'Antoni on the "Mind the Game" podcast. James and Nash host that podcast together. When the "Seven Seconds or Less" era of Suns basketball came into discussion on April 16, James revealed how he views its influence on the NBA. Advertisement 'I don't think that you — and I don't think Mike D'Antoni get enough credit for revolutionizing the game to where it is today,' James said. D'Antoni's system, with Nash at point guard, was an up-tempo offense designed to get a good shot off within seven seconds or less. Sports Illustrated NBA writer Jack McCallum wrote the book on that Suns era's 2005-06 team titled ":07 Seconds or Less: My Season on the Bench with the Runnin' and Gunnin' Phoenix Suns." Those Suns existed from D'Antoni's first full year as head coach in the 2004-05 season through the 2006-07 season. "I think it was right at the right time because the rules were changing too," Nash said. "So you couldn't like, have two hands on a guy anymore. ... The league I think — wisely — wanted to make it a more free-flowing, open, highlight the athleticism (league)." Advertisement In the 2009 offseason, then-Suns general manager Steve Kerr redesigned the roster to be built for a system more like what new Suns head coach Alvin Gentry helped run as an assistant under D'Antoni. Gentry and Nash led the Suns to the Western Conference finals that 2009-10 season, just like D'Antoni and Nash led the Suns to the Western Conference finals in both the 2004-05 and 2005-06 seasons. "We were small," Nash said. "There's rim protectors everywhere; you got Tim (Duncan), you got Shaq (O'Neal), you got all these guys around. We didn't have that ... So how could we cope defensively, not being a rim protection team? "By one: Being different, switching more, trying to find ways to junk up the game. And on the offensive side: How can we blow teams away? And so it was an amazing time for me in a sense because I think I had just taken my game, my skills, my confidence to a new level. And then Mike opened the floor up and let me play." Advertisement D'Antoni continued running his up-tempo, run-and-gun system as head coach of the New York Knicks from 2008-12, the Los Angeles Lakers with Nash as his point guard again from 2012-14 and the Houston Rockets from 2016-20. D'Antoni also helped run it as an assistant during the 2020-21 season with the Brooklyn Nets, in Nash's first of two-plus seasons as the head coach in Brooklyn. Many teams since 2014 have adopted similar pacing and similar emphasis on 3-point shooting. More wing-heavy lineups without a traditional rim protector on the floor have been put to use after D'Antoni laid the blueprint. Kerr ran a similar offense as Golden State Warriors head coach from the 2014-15 season and still does to this day. Kerr has won four NBA championships with the offense in Golden State and is set to run it in the NBA playoffs, beginning for the Warriors on April 20. "You and your style of play. That is the game today," James said to Nash. "You guys were before (your) time." This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: LeBron James tells Steve Nash how he feels about Mike D'Antoni's Suns
