http://www.nypost.com/seven/01292007/sports/knicks/cant_pass_the_bucks_knicks_marc_berman.htm

Their final free-throw statistics were etched on the white blackboard in the Bradley Center locker room after yesterday's 107-105 loss to the Bucks - "14 of 24." And the frustration of those misses was etched on Isiah Thomas' face.

Thomas flew into a rant yesterday at his players and the media, driving home the point that his Knickerbockers (19-27) would be in first place in the Atlantic Division if they made their free throws.

Thomas did not want to talk about Eddy Curry coming back or Jamal Crawford coming back to Earth.

After his 52-point explosion, Crawford shot 9 of 24 and his left-corner desperation 3-point airball at the buzzer was waved off because he stepped on the out-of-bounds line. Nor would Isiah address the Knicks' awful defense on Milwaukee's Sixth Man, Ruben Patterson, who burned them for 21 points on 8 of 10 shooting, and Maurice Williams, who returned from a nine-game absence to rack up 30 points and 10 assists.

Crawford, who made 16 straight shots Friday in a record-setting 52-point night, didn't make more than two straight yesterday, finishing with 26 points, but only after missing his first six.

No, Thomas is finally fed up with their seasonlong, free-throw malaise. No matter the question, Thomas turned it back to the charity stripe. When a reporter specifically said he wanted to change the topic from free throws to Jared Jeffries' continued benching, Thomas snapped, "I don't have another topic." And with that, Thomas stormed off in a huff into the frigid Milwaukee air.

Thomas seemed to be begging the writers to make an issue of the Knicks being ranked 26th in the league in free-throw percentage (72.1 percent).

"It's a tough loss because, right now, the difference for us in the games we lost comes down to the foul line," Thomas said. "If we make free throws, you can add at least seven, eight wins to our win column. We practice it every day. We harp on it since the first day of training camp. It's the thing that's killing us right now and the whole season."

The Knicks missed 10 of their first 20 attempts yesterday, but they still rallied from a nine-point deficit with 4:03 left and got in position to win. Four of their five starters each missed two free throws.

"We battled back, but if we do a better job on the foul line, this is a win, not an 'L'," Thomas said. "Look at our stat sheet. Most nights, we play a good basketball game. We have guys who step up and play a good basketball game. You got to make a free throw. You guys were in training camp with me. You watched them run sprints [after free-throw misses]."

Curry, who sat out Friday's blowout win over Miami, decided to play on a sore calf. Though he made his first five shots, he was not nearly as active, finishing with 15 points (6 of 9) and four turnovers in 27 minutes.

Thomas limited his time, sitting him the final 8:06 - the Knicks making their comeback without him.

Crawford heated up late, but Stephon Marbury's 3-pointer - off a Crawford kickback - got the Knicks within 102-100 with 1:00 left. Marbury scored on a lefty lay-in to make it 104-102 with 28.3 seconds left.

Williams got doubled up top by Marbury and Malik Rose but frantically drove left and made an running, off-balance jumper with 3.1 seconds left for a 106-102 lead.

Crawford buried a trey off a quick catch-and-shoot on the inbounds, but the Knicks may have gotten hosed by the timekeeper as only 0.8 seconds were left. Thomas argued briefly and Crawford said, "I have to watch the tape on that one, it didn't seem it was in the air that long," Crawford said.

With 0.4 seconds left, Williams missed the first, then tried to intentionally miss the second, but the high-arcer dropped through, allowing the Knicks to call timeout and set up at halfcourt. Crawford got it in the deep left corner and misfired over the basket.

Afterward, the officials ruled Crawford stepped on the line and it wouldn't have counted.

Crawford's magic had officially run out.

Bucks almost had the same amount of misses from the stripe.

Knicks: 14-24
Bucks: 16-25

I mean, it is a problem, and if the Knicks are specifically working on this, they GOT to be better, but damn, let's play D.

Well... when you lose close games, a lot of times it comes down to the gnitty gritty - if you hit a 2 or 3 more free throws earlier in the game, the situations in crunch time are a little different.

In general, let's say you're at the 2 minute mark of a game, there's a big difference between being up 1 point, or down 1 point or 5 points. The difference in points cuts down the margin of error.

Overall, we're playing well enough to hang w/ most teams on most nights, but perhaps more important than executing in the clutch is executing a clean game (eliminating unforced errors/turnovers and hitting free throws), so that the end of the game doesn't have to be an uphill battle.

You can just smell his firing from a mile away.

Isiah is a loser that makes excuses, perhaps its a problem if you give up 100pts every game to teams that play without wade and redd. They had a less than efficient Villeneuva and as usual Mo Williams tourches the team for 30.

Thats why crawford and curry have to go, they score but they end up giving up just as much if not more. Isiah puts no emphasis on defense and crawford never gets taken out of a game when he ****s up which is 3 out of 4 games.

52 is great, 19 is nice, but if your not doing the things to win, its usless. Free throw shooting is a problem, but you brought in these guys, you know what they are so why attack something like free throws and pay no attention to the fact you have helped turn the knicks into the worst defensive team in the league

Posted by franco12:

Turnovers
Missed FTs
Poor defense

FT's is the one thing that individuals have greater control over.

I mean, Curry, Frye et al are weak defenders- not sure that will ever change. But, its within their ability to improve their FT shooting.

shot selection and offensive fouls - those are also things individuals have control over. stepping into the lane to draw a charge - something i haven't seen from anybody other than jeffries, quentin, and malik. that's another thing an individual can control. by focusing on missed ft's, he's giving the impression that everything else we did was cool with him, all they needed were free throws.

Posted by islesfan:

Why? It's real easy.

Missed Free Throws = The players fault, Isiah has no control over it.

Ridiculously bad defense = The coaches fault, Isiah has total control over it.

Isiah will never accept blame for ANYTHING!!!

bad defense etc is also the GM's fault

The FT problem is just one of the indications of bigger problem.
Most of the Knicks players are for some reason believe that thay are better that most of the opponets individually and collectively as a team. Why this is a case is bejound my understanding. Last year we had delusioanl Ariza now we have almoust all players delusional.
Last season LB put their confidence down and the team collapsed as this guys decided that this is not their individual problems but the coach problem. This year thay have their confidence skyrocked by IT so tehy lost the sense of reality.
This team need a psycological help. We have only 3-4 mentaly stable guys in Lee, Q (lately), and Malik. I think Big Snuck is also OK and still can contribute to Globetrotters if he will go back to the business he is good for.
The players of this team need a doctor...

Well at least he's not blaming the fans or the schedule... anymore.

Did you just call Isiah Thomas a hobo?

Posted by TrueBlue:

LOL @ the notion the game had no flow with the final score being 107-105. Let's say he's right about this, well players like Eddy, Jeffries, Marbury, Richardson are all below where they should be

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/teams/stats?team=nyk&sort=ft%&avg=pg&order=true&season=2&seasonYear=2007&split=0

Those players have been the most coddled on the team, until of late Jeffries losing major ground in support. See what happens when you don't ocassionally publicly call out players for shortcomings and allow them to be who they are?



We sure could use Steve Franics right now couldn't we?



This guy is a HOBO and should be fired just for this rant alone.


[Edited by - TrueBlue on 01-29-2007 11:27 AM]

I don't understand how you can lump Q with Eddy, Marbury and Jefferies.