The New York Knicks entered the season with championship aspirations, however after the Atlanta Hawks defeated the Miami Heat to clinch the eighth and final Eastern Conference playoff spot to eliminate the Knicks from playoff contention, the team finds itself wondering what went wrong. Coach Mike Woodson shouldered the blame himself, and took responsibility for the team's shortcomings.
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Woodson was upset with his performance as coach and said the blame game starts with him.
"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 told 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 [spent] their hard earned money to come see us play and we didn't come into this season expecting this."
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The Knicks felt confident coming into the season after clinching the Atlantic Division in 2012-13 and winning 54 games, leading to James Dolan labeling them a "championship-caliber" team. The Knicks ultimately didn't live up to expectations.
"[Expectations] should have been a little bit higher if you ask me," Amar'e Stoudemire said per ESPN. "On paper we might be the best team, in the league. We've got great players on this team who accomplished so much."
New York suffered through long losing streaks before winning 12 of 15 games to make a playoff push, however their 35-45 record hasn't been good enough to sustain them and they will close out their final two games of the season before the 2013-14 campaign goes dark.
One big question mark is whether or not Woodson will be brought back as team brass and new president Phil Jackson may look for a new coach to guide the team next year.
Carmelo Anthony -- whose future with the team also remains a question as he may leave through free agency -- said that Woodson shouldn't solely take the blame.
"We all are part of that," Anthony said, according to ESPN. "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."
Anthony did his part this season, ranking second in the NBA in scoring (27.6), and much like he defended Woodson from taking all the blame, the Knicks coach did the same for his star player.
"You can't point [the blame] at [Anthony], because he's been there all year," Woodson told ESPN. "He's had a hell of a season for us."
The Knicks visit the Brooklyn Nets Tuesday before closing the season Wednesday night by hosting the Toronto Raptors at Madison Square Garden.
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