December 5, 2006 -- An irate Isiah Thomas guaranteed yesterday the Knicks will reverse their home misfortunes and start edging toward .500. He delivered his message during a morning-shootaround rant in which he threatened "drastic measures" will be taken if things don't turn.

Thomas told the team no more excuses, it will win at the Garden, boos or no boos.

And for one night, the players responded, silenced the jeers for three quarters until their home mental block resurfaced in the final minutes. The Knicks allowed the Grizzlies (4-13) to climb within five points twice in the final 2:47, but hung on, 98-90, moving their embarrassing Garden record to 2-7.

The victory occurred before a sparsely attended, sometimes-dead Garden. The announced crowd of 15,233 was the season's second-lowest mark and among the lowest of the past 12 years. Even owner James Dolan skipped the dog game.

In addressing their home mental block before the game, Thomas said, "They need to be more afraid of me than the crowd, more afraid of what I can do than what the crowd can do."

Even in victory, Thomas seemed down. Their dispirited fourth quarter when they nearly blew a 16-point lead with 10:41 left put a damper on matters.

"It's a win. I'm satisfied we won but I want more from our team and we'll keep pushing them," Thomas said. "I'm not disappointed. I'm glad we won but I'm not satisfied. I want more."

Eddy Curry's rebirth continued, as he logged his career-high seventh straight 20-plus night, despite fouling out with 2:59 left. Curry racked up 26 points and a career-high-tying 15 rebounds in 42 minutes, picking up five fouls in the fourth quarter.

But the Knicks survived without Curry as David Lee posted his eighth double-double (he had four all last season). Lee was tough inside, too, collecting 20 points on 9 of 10 shooting and 11 boards and snatching a key offensive rebound with 1:20 left. Malik Rose sealed the win with an offensive rebound with 21 seconds left.

The Knicks moved to 1-1 on this make-or-break six-game homestand. Suffering from anxiety issues in front of their hostile fans, the Knicks are amidst a stretch of 10 home games in 11 contests.

"We're just going to start winning at home," Thomas vowed in the morning. "I know that. I didn't know what it is. But I do know this. Whatever it is, we're sure as hell going to beat it. We're going to stop losing at home. We're going to start winning here."

"I know we're 6-13 now and I don't like that," Thomas added. "It's definitely not going to stay that way."

It's now 7-13, with Washington on tap tomorrow. Thomas' morning language was a sharp reversal from Sunday when he talked about the shaky fan-player relationship, saying he had "no answers."

Isiah's answer yesterday was to guarantee their turnaround and make threats. Thomas indicated one of those measures would be benching guys after halftime. But don't discount Thomas' implication about trades, which will pick up Dec. 15 when draft picks and free agents signed over the summer can be dealt.

Isiah's rant also was the first time he expressed displeasure with their record. "We got to break this habit," Thomas said. "If they don't stop it, I will take drastic measures."

Thomas has never been this forceful publicly - a sign of his desperation. Thomas said he told his players, "We're winning at home. The habits that are forming the last couple of years, tanking in December, we're not tanking in December. We're winning at home."

Posted by Silverfuel:

I think he has been saying this stuff behind closed doors anyway. I think it pleases the fans to see it in the newspaper but I dont think Isiah was ever being too easy on these guys.

[Edited by - Silverfuel on 12-05-2006 1:05 PM]

Posted by oohah:

Joe forgot to mention that today is opposite day, hence Isiahs's commentary and Joe's subsequent thank you.



oohah

^LoL....Seriously, I'm not an eternal pessimist.

If he was saying this syuff behind closed doors great, but that doesn't explain why he was saying stuff to the media that actually made it tougher on his players. Either way, I hope this is the attitude he projects on the team. The only thing that can make today better is if he comes around and names Q captain.

I like his latest rallycry that the players should be more scared of him and not the fans because its true.

Posted by holfresh:

I'm baffled here....Are you guys really buying this from Zeke??...Is that all it took???...Buying out JRose and MoT for nothing in return didn't raise your eyebrows...Benching Marbs at the end of games didn't get you?..Benching Frye for extended game time didn't get your attention..Not starting Francis didn't garner an about face....Not playing JJ1 and Malik didn't make you think that maybe he is doing something different here...But Zeke saying to reporters that they need to fear me and not fan's boos finally are making look at Zeke the coach....HMMMMMMM....Strange....