|
djsunyc
Posts: 44929
Alba Posts: 42
Joined: 1/16/2004
Member: #536
|
For Better or Worse, the Knicks Embrace Their Starting Lineup
By HOWARD BECK
LOS ANGELES, Feb. 11 — Long before the fourth-quarter meltdown and the overtime gasp in Utah late Saturday night, the Knicks caught a brief glimpse of what might have been — indeed, of who they might have been.
Early in the second quarter, after a timeout and a breather, Eddy Curry returned to the lineup. Flanking him in the frontcourt were Channing Frye and Jared Jeffries. In the backcourt were Stephon Marbury and Steve Francis.
The five played the next 1 minute 7 seconds together before another substitution broke it up. It happened so fast that they probably did not appreciate the moment: It was the first time that those five players — a group Coach Isiah Thomas had envisioned as his starting lineup — played together this season.
Thomas signed Jeffries last summer to be the Knicks’ starting small forward. Thomas was committed to a starting backcourt of Francis and Marbury. And he wanted Frye’s perimeter shooting next to Curry’s inside game.
But that group has not started a single game, a reminder of just how disjointed the Knicks (22-29) have often been this season.
Jeffries broke his left wrist in training camp and missed the season’s first 22 games. He returned Dec. 9, the same night Francis checked out with tendinitis in his right knee. Until Saturday, those two presumed starters had played in the same game only twice, Dec. 27 and 29, when Francis played sparingly before shutting himself down again.
When Francis finally returned to the rotation Saturday, although not to the starting lineup, the Knicks had a full, healthy complement of players for the first time. Someone suggested that this meant the Knicks no longer had any excuses for failure.
“No,” Thomas said, “it means that the way I thought about playing in training camp, it’s too late in the season right now to try to do that. Just style, rotation and everything else. You came in with an idea of what you wanted to do. I guess that’s how basketball is.”
And this is who the Knicks are, until the next injury, suspension, trade or contract buyout. Francis and Jeffries, who have missed a combined 56 games, are not starters, but role-playing reserves. Frye has also been relegated to the bench for now, although by Thomas’s choice.
With all of his options available, Thomas could conceivably tinker with the lineup and rotation. But with the season well past its midway point, he is reluctant to mess with a modestly good thing.
Jamal Crawford, for all of his inconsistency and occasional wildness, has been effective as Marbury’s backcourt partner for most of the past two months. Quentin Richardson, despite his own injury troubles, has been the Knicks’ best small forward.
The Knicks are still prone to inexplicable letdowns — such as losing a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter of Saturday night’s loss. But they are 9-8 since Jan. 2, and Thomas has reason to believe that consistency in the lineup and rotation will eventually produce a winning streak that puts the Knicks in playoff contention.
The injuries and suspensions forced Thomas to make decisions he might not have otherwise made, some of which have helped.
Francis is a prime example. The Francis-Marbury pairing never worked well because they are too similar in their styles. The Knicks were 6-11 when they were the starting guards. The Knicks are 14-14 with Marbury and Crawford as the starting backcourt. For all of his talent, Francis appears to be best used as a third guard on this team, a role he might not have accepted coming out of camp.
There is no telling how different Jeffries’s season would be had he not broken his wrist in October. Jeffries has struggled mightily to find his place and show the diverse talents that prompted Thomas to give him a $30 million contract last summer.
But Jeffries’s long absence also helped the Knicks, specifically Richardson. In October, Richardson seemed destined to be a backup at forward and at guard. He easily could have been lost in a deep rotation. Instead, Richardson opened the season as the starting small forward and had an instant renaissance — he was the Knicks’ best player in November.
Recent games have shown just how far the Knicks are from the team Thomas once envisioned. Jeffries played only seven minutes Saturday night. Frye, the eighth overall pick in the June 2005 draft, played only 15 minutes. Nate Robinson, once considered a key member of the Knicks’ youth movement, has not played in the past two games despite being healthy.
David Lee, who was drafted 22 spots behind Frye and 9 behind Robinson, is the most productive member of the 2005 draft class. Lee remains a reserve but plays 30 minutes a night, cutting into the playing time of Frye and Jeffries.
Thomas may not have the lineup, the rotation or the style he envisioned in training camp. But fate has formed a team that may yet save his job over the next two months.
REBOUNDS
Isiah Thomas gave his players the day off Sunday. The Knicks will practice Monday at U.C.L.A. in preparation for Tuesday’s game against the Los Angeles Lakers. The Knicks defeated the Lakers (without the suspended Kobe Bryant) on Jan. 30 in New York. The Lakers finished an eight-game trip Sunday. |
