Derrick Rose believes the Knicks take their ability to score for granted sometimes, and that coach Jeff Hornacek should stress defense so much that the player can't stand hearing it anymore.
It's no secret that defense has been the Knicks' greatest weakness this season. Rose, too, has had his share of difficulty keeping his man in front of him.
But Rose's best individual and team success came when hard-driving Tom Thibodeau coached him with the Bulls. Thibodeau was known for getting everything he could out of each player and made playing defense mandatory.
"I played on teams where we couldn't score the ball like we score the ball here," Rose said. "When you have the privilege like we have to score the ball at ease, defensively we've got to make sure _ coach has to make sure _ he beats us in the head with defense all the time. We've got to be irritated by it.
"Offensively, I think we're going to find our way to get better in areas on the floor, but defensively we have to come in like, we've got to be irritated by him talking about defense so much. That's how I feel."
Hornacek has been critical of the Knicks' defense, especially lately. Early this week, Hornacek said he didn't know if the Knicks had players "capable of" playing defense.
