David Fizdale is coming back to coaching as the latest pick of the New York Knicks to turn around their franchise.
The Knicks agreed to hire Fizdale on Thursday Tyler Lockett Jersey , a person with knowledge of the details said.
The former Memphis Grizzlies coach will replace Jeff Hornacek, who was fired last month after two seasons.
The Knicks then conducted a lengthy search before agreeing Thursday to a deal in principle with Fizdale, the person told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the deal was not officially announced.
ESPN first reported the agreement with Fizdale.
Fizdale led the Grizzlies to the playoffs in his first season before being fired early last season following a clash with star center Marc Gasol.
That did little to diminish the respect of Fizdale, who had been an assistant to Erik Spoelstra in Miami when the Heat won two NBA championships and developed strong relationships with superstars LeBron James and Dwyane Wade.
The Knicks will hope he will have the same effect on their young team, which has missed the playoffs the past five seasons and could struggle again next season while All-Star Kristaps Porzingis recovers from a torn knee ligament.
Fizdale went 43-39 and led the Grizzlies to the playoffs in his lone full season in Memphis. He lasted just 19 games into the following season, when Gasol publicly objected to being left on the bench in the fourth quarter of a game.
Fizdale then did some work in TV and was mentioned as a candidate for nearly every job that became available this offseason,
He ends up becoming the 11th Knicks coach since Jeff Van Gundy resigned in the 2001-02 season.
Hornacek went 60-104 and the Knicks fired him at the airport upon returning from Cleveland after their season finale. Team president Steve Mills and general manager Scott Perry said at the time they wanted someone who could better communicate with today’s NBA players and said they were searching for someone who would mold the team over the next three to five years.
That seemed to be the situation that was developing in Memphis, where he opened up the offense of what had long been a defensive-minded team in his first season. He then endeared himself to the city during a fiery rant after a playoff loss to San Antonio, when he was fined $30 John Matuszak Jersey ,000 for a tirade against the officials during which he said ”Take that for data!” and ”They’re not going to rook us!” – quotes that both ended up on T-shirts.
But it abruptly ended last November when the Grizzlies fell to 7-12 after a loss in which Gasol remained on the bench the entire fourth quarter. Fizdale was fired the next day, though the Grizzlies said it was because of the team’s overall performance, not the specific incident with Gasol.
Fizdale was previously an assistant in Golden State and Atlanta before moving on to Miami.
TAMPA, Fla. — Four games into the Eastern Conference final, the Tampa Bay Lightning and Washington Capitals are tied 2-2, but getting there hasn’t been anything as expected.
The road team has won all four games, with Washington dominating its way to a 2-0 lead in Tampa, only to see the Lightning pull back even with two road wins themselves.
The Capitals are 7-1 on the road and 3-5 at home in the playoffs, so do the Lightning really have an advantage with two of the remaining three games at Amalie Arena?
“It seems like in this series Aaron Jones Jersey , the pressure shifts on the home team,” said Lightning coach Jon Cooper, whose team is 5-1 on the road in the playoffs against the New Jersey Devils, Boston Bruins and Capitals. “The big, glaring 0-4 is staring at you. Home-ice advantage has been a disadvantage in this series. Having said that, I’d rather have Game 5 at home. I believe we’ll be a different team than we showed up in Games 1 and 2.”
In a battle of division winners, the Lightning are in the conference final for the third time in four years and the Capitals are here for the first time in 20 years.
Which will be the advantage to push one team to the Stanley Cup final?
Capitals forward Tom Wilson said the advantages of home ice are lessened in the playoffs, when both teams have ample energy and intensity because of what’s on the line.
“It doesn’t really matter this time of year, whether you’re home or away Tevin Coleman Jersey ,” Wilson said after the Game 4 loss. “Every game is huge and the emotion is going to be there. Road, home, it doesn’t matter. We’re going to go after it and hopefully get the next one.”
Special teams have been at the center of Tampa Bay’s turnaround, as well as stellar play in net from Vezina Trophy finalist Andrei Vasilevskiy. The Lightning have gone 6 of 14 on their power play in the series, improving on the success rate for what was the NHL’s best power play in the regular season.
Even more impressively, Tampa Bay’s penalty kill, which ranked in the bottom five of the league in the regular season, went 7 of 7 on killing off Capitals power plays in the last two games. Three of those came in the final eight minutes of the first period Thursday night, as Tampa Bay held onto a 2-1 lead.
Steven Stamkos has dominated on the power play — six of his seven postseason goals and six of his nine postseason assists have come on that unit Chris Wormley Jersey , matching Nikita Kucherov for the team scoring lead with 16 total points each.
Evgeny Kuznetsov and Alex Ovechkin both have 10 goals to pace the Capitals, who now have the confidence that comes with playing on the road.
Tampa Bay tied for the NHL lead with 25 road wins in the regular season, but it will need to win a home game to win this series. Overall in the playoffs, road teams are 40-34, on pace to challenge the NHL record for most postseason wins by a road team — 47 in 2012.
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