Hearing that the Garden chairman James Dolan has guaranteed a Knicks' victory Wednesday in Atlanta — after he sat through their wire-to-wire pathetic effort in Sunday' 31-point blowout loss to the Spurs — Carmelo Anthony knows that the pressure is on and he’s going to try to deliver for the man who signs his paychecks.
"I guess we've got to win,'' Anthony said Monday when asked by the Daily News about Dolan's guarantee. "The owner said it. I guess we got to make it happen. We want to win. If he said it, he's put the pressure on us to go out there and win the game.''
During the performance, Dolan didn't even refer to the Knicks by name, while crediting the Rangers by name with their win over Florida.
Asked by the Daily News if Dolan was supportive of him during their meeting, Woodson wouldn't provide any insight, adhering to the Garden's rules that discussing what Dolan says with the media is strictly off limits.
"That's not your guys' business,'' he said. "That's me and my owner's business. We've got to get ready for Atlanta, that's the name of the game.''
But Woodson was clearly taken aback when Dolan's guarantee was brought up, asking a reporter, "say that again?''
The Knicks were definitely not happy with the line of line of questioning about Dolan's meeting with Woodson or his guarantee, even though the boss made his comments in a public venue and knew that a couple of reporters were in attendance. After Woodson was allowed to give the media all of four minutes and 25 seconds of interview time, a Knicks PR official told reporters, "Now get the (bleep) out.''
