Thomas Says Outburst and Ejection a ‘Fluke’
By MAREK FUCHS

GREENBURGH, N.Y., Nov. 19 — Knicks Coach Isiah Thomas said Sunday that in receiving two technical fouls and being ejected just as his team was mounting a comeback against the Boston Celtics the previous night, he acted against his better judgment.

“I think I had an abnormal reaction to an abnormal game,” Thomas said after the Knicks held a light but previously unscheduled practice.

The Knicks’ 122-118 loss at Madison Square Garden stretched to nearly three hours and included a remarkable 69 foul calls and 113 free-throw attempts. But the timing of Thomas’s eruption could not have been worse, especially for a struggling team that was attempting to win its third game in a row.

The Knicks, who had fallen behind badly, climbed within 6 points with a little more than two minutes left when Thomas got the technicals after confronting the referee Joe DeRosa. It was the second consecutive Saturday in which Thomas lost his temper. In San Antonio, he screamed at the Spurs’ Bruce Bowen for what he viewed as dirty play that resulted in an ankle injury to Steve Francis.

But on a personal level, Saturday’s actions put Thomas, who has preached the importance of not giving away free points with technical fouls, in an especially nasty knot.

Thomas said that his transgression was a fluke, adding that he had never seen a game like Saturday’s.

“It definitely was an abnormal reaction, but nowhere in my book had I seen this type of abnormality coming,” he said.

Another concern for Thomas is how Eddy Curry, his inconsistent 23-year-old center, will play against Yao Ming when the Knicks face the Houston Rockets on Monday night at the Garden. When the Knicks played the Rockets on Nov. 10 in Houston, Yao, who is 7 feet 6 inches, had 35 points and 17 rebounds. Curry had only 7 points and 5 rebounds. Against Boston, a small team, Curry was also outmaneuvered and ineffective.

But Thomas stressed the need for patience, pointing to prominent big men, like Patrick Ewing, Jermaine O’Neal and even Yao, who took time to find their footings in the N.B.A.

Curry said he had taken note of the arc of Yao’s career. He said that part of Yao’s success came from his ability to tune out the disbelievers. As Curry put it: “Everybody said, ‘He shoots too many jump shots.’ But he still does.” Curry also said that Yao’s ability to develop “counter moves,” to his more basic ones, has served him especially well. “It keeps people guessing,” said Curry, who often puts his shoulder down in driving to the right side of the basket, charging into defenders who have anticipated the move. Curry added, laughing, “It also doesn’t hurt that he’s 7 feet 6.”

A larger issue might be whether the friendly and humble Curry has the ambition to be a top-flight player. Thomas steers conversation to what he sees as more commonalities with past centers.

“That was the question they were asking about those guys,” Thomas said. “Did they have focus? Did they have potential? Is he hungry enough? Is he this? Is he that? And one day they are on the All-Star team. You have to wait and you have be patient and you have to keep pushing them along.”

Thomas insists he is happy where his team is, at 4-7, considering the difficulty of its early schedule. He stressed again that his outburst was an aberrant event.

“I don’t know if it was a full moon or what,” he said. “But the whole thing was out of whack.”

Posted by fishmike:

it just goes to show the level of BS this guy works in. Its a joke. He's a joke. His creampuff stars are a joke.