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Knicks Off to a Bad Start With Francis Sitting on the Bench
By PAT BORZI
MINNEAPOLIS, Nov. 23 — Sitting at his locker after the Knicks’ 107-89 debacle against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday night, guard Steve Francis addressed reporters with the cranky annoyance of someone who had been awakened too soon from a nap.
Relegated to the bench in a lineup change, Francis scored 19 points before fouling out in the final minute. But the Knicks were already 13 points behind when Francis entered the game late in the first quarter for Stephon Marbury, and they never got closer than 12 after that in their worst performance of the young season.
Judged by one game, the move — which elevated Jamal Crawford to the starting lineup — was a disaster, even though Crawford matched Francis’s 19 points. But overall, the Knicks (4-9) regressed. They managed only 11 assists, let the punchless Timberwolves shoot 52.8 percent from the field and took nearly 40 minutes to record their only steal of the night against a team that is often sloppy with the ball.
So Francis, who complained about being benched by Coach Larry Brown in Orlando last year, was in no mood to expound upon his new role. But the Knicks’ new coach, Isiah Thomas, said it was a role that Francis suggested himself.
Asked twice whether he actually offered to go to the bench, Francis refused to answer directly.
“Is that what Isiah said?” he said. “I’m a team player. I don’t want to make a big thing out of it. We’ve just got to rebound from tonight and get better.”
Crawford said Francis told him the switch was his idea, and he and Thomas praised Francis for being unselfish.
Handling Francis’s minutes and psyche could be difficult for Thomas, especially after Jared Jeffries returns from a broken left hand in two weeks. Thomas conceded that he would have to make another lineup change at that point, though he did not indicate what it would be.
Thomas may have tipped his hand when he was asked who, with Crawford starting, would provide a lift off the bench. “We still have Nate,” he said with a grin, referring to the energetic Nate Robinson.
Francis would be tough to trade. He is owed $48.7 million on a contract that runs through 2009.
Certainly, the Knicks cannot win with the kind of indifferent defense they played against the Timberwolves. Ricky Davis (21 points) and Kevin Garnett (19 points) hoisted perimeter jumpers without conscience or a hand in their faces. Minnesota had five players in double figures, including center Mark Blount, who made 7 of 9 shots from the field and scored 17 points in less than 19 minutes.
Thomas called his team’s lack of effort “unacceptable.”
Even Marbury, given the O.K. by Thomas to resume the freewheeling Starbury style that had been his trademark, proved ineffective early. He drove for the first basket of the game but committed five turnovers before scoring again. By then, midway through the second quarter, the Knicks were down by 19. Marbury finished with 18 points.
“It’s one game,” Marbury said in evaluating the revised lineup. “We just have to continue to play and see what happens. You’ve got to give it some time before we say anything about it.”
Marbury, though, is in no danger of losing playing time. For Francis, the future does not seem as bright with the Knicks. That would make anybody cranky.
“The coach wanted to do something different with the team,” Francis said. “I’m trying to sacrifice and do something different for the team.” |
11/23/2006 11:01 PM
