New York Knicks: Beno Udrih fires off on Mike Woodson

You have to wonder at times why Mike Woodson is still coaching the New York Knicks.

In addition to questionable strategies, Woodson has made the habit of throwing players under the bus.

Dec 18, 2013; Milwaukee, WI, USA; New York Knicks guard Beno Udrih (18) during the game against the Milwaukee Bucks at BMO Harris Bradley Center. New York won 107-101 in double overtime. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports

He did so with Iman Shumpert earlier in the season and after their embarrassing Christmas Day loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder, did so to point guard Beno Udrih as well.

Udrih though wasn’t having any of it and fired right back at his head coach.

"“I kind of feel like when I do the right thing, it’s not the right thing in some people’s eyes,” Udrih told ESPN’s Ian Begley. “It’s just tough. It’s easy to point fingers when the team loses. But it comes down to, we are a team, we lose together. No matter who makes a mistake or who doesn’t, it’s still a team loss,” Udrih said. “So I think all of this stuff should be kept out of the media and not call certain people out or something. We’ve just got to go out there and fix it and watch video and fix it as a team.”"

While he didn’t mention Woodson by name, it was pretty clear who he was referring to.

Woodson was first very critical of Udrih during the Knicks’ one-point loss to Washington.

Woodson said that Udrih “opened the flood gates” for Washington’s Bradley Beal to get to the basket for an uncontested layup with 6.9 seconds to go.

However what Woodson didn’t say is why Udrih was on Beal in the first place as it was a mismatch. Woodson also didn’t note the fact that the 31-year-old backup played the final 21:49 of the game without a break. Toure’ Murry did not see a single minute of action in the game. The fact that the Knicks ended the game with three timeouts speaks to the fact that Woodson wasn’t the least bit concerned with resting his overworked point guard.

But in typical Woodson fashion, he threw his point guard under the bus.

He did so again Wednesday and Udrih fired back.

“Sometimes I have a feeling like when I [make] a mistake they have a feeling that I’m making the mistake on purpose. As weird as it sounds, that’s how I feel,” Udrih said.

“I’ve always been pretty good with not turning over the ball and this year it’s totally different. I don’t know what happened that summer. I don’t think I forgot [how] to play basketball. So there’s a lot of factors,” he said. “You can point fingers at me as much as you can but if things don’t work it’s not one person’s fault … It’s a team sport.”

Woodson has gone away from the two point guard lineup, meaning Udrih hasn’t gotten many minutes when Raymond Felton and Pablo Prigioni have been healthy.

Udrih hasn’t been great, but he has severely outplayed Felton all season.

GMPFG%3P%AST%Offensive Win SharesWS/48Felton1754539.229.226.20.1.021Udrih2035245.546.425.50.3.065

basketball-reference.com

Udrih has been the least of the Knicks major problems this season. He shouldn’t be starting for any team in the league, but he is not the reason the Knicks are sitting at 9-19 at the moment.

But Woodson will continue to throw him under the bus.

It’s funny that he doesn’t do the same with Felton. Nor does he throw J.R. Smith under the bus for his poor defensive effort or going 8-for-22 from the floor Wednesday afternoon. He’s also never thrown Carmelo Anthony under the bus for taking 29 shots to score 25 points.

You have also never heard Woodson blame himself for any of the Knicks problems.

So through all of the drama I say good for Udrih for firing back.

Woodson should take a minute or two and look in the mirror before throwing the wrong people under the bus.

Do that to some of the people who deserve it and maybe he would be respected just a little bit.

Until that happens, Woodson can throw guys like Shumpert and Udrih under the bus all he wants, but until then anything that comes out of Woodson’s mouth shouldn’t be taken with much merit.

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