CLYDE'S PLAYOFF PICK
SEES RUN COMING FOR 'INCONSISTENT' KNICKS

And now it will be building on the 94-86 Orlando rout in which Eddy Curry dominated Dwight Howard and the Knicks played as tenaciously on defense as they have all season. Coach Isiah Thomas' insertion of physical Jerome James as a starter over Channing Frye injected them with more of a defensive pulse.

"We have to improve on defense," Frazier said. "The thing I was most surprised with Brown is the team didn't play defense. That was his forte. They were not aggressive on defense." Frazier, however, sees the club progressing in other areas from last season with Thomas as coach.

"I think they've made tremendous progress just because of Curry," Frazier said. "They haven't had a focal point for years now. He's a guy they can build around they didn't have last year. The maturation of [Jamal] Crawford - his shooting percentage is poor but he's still a guy you fear down the stretch. [David] Lee, rebounding and being a real energizer. You didn't have that last year. [Quentin] Richardson, when healthy, is their best defender and he can shoot.

"And I think Isiah's done a good job motivating. They've shown a lot of grit and haven't quit this year. They're unfazed by double-digit deficits. Once last year they got down, that was it."

Frazier admits Brown's coaching job was one of the worst he ever has seen.

"He never really groomed the team when he went to all the different lineups, starting guys in their hometown," Frazier said. "I've never seen that before - other than college."
marc.berman@nypost.com

Why didn't you just highlight the whole article?

All joking aside, I hope Clyde is right, I want to see some hard-fought playoff basketball.

Posted by NYKresurrection:

Crickets on Clyde's statement about LB ??? WOW !!!

Does there have to be a Brown mention every other day? I thought everyone here pretty much agreed he did a bad job. It's over and done with.

Yeah, I don't get it about Brown. He stunk. He was not trying to win last year. This isn't news because Frazier said it. Can we move on from this and worry about what we are doing today and into the future.

I do not want Isiah competing against last year. I want Isiah doing the best he can to make this team better going forward. As a coach I think he's done a solid job of this. As a GM, I want him to be allowed to focus on coaching by getting him "some help" at the GM spot.

Everyone here isn't clear that Brown wasn't trying to win last year.
Everyone here isn't clear about a whole lot of things concerning his performance here last year. This is why every so often you get a retarded thread where Isiah says "blah, blah, blah, defense" and guys are like, thats exactly what Brown was saying!!

It is worth something that a hall of famer, don't rock the boat kind of guy like Clyde said this. Of course if you don't have larry brown colored glasses on, you could see this on your own.

February 5, 2007 -- Walt Frazier said he still believes the Knicks will make the playoffs and feels they are better than their record, though he also called the club too "inconsistent."
"I'm sticking with them," Frazier told The Post. "I think they can do it. I'm looking at Orlando, looking at Toronto. Sooner or later, this team has got to click. It's matter of time before they get going. We haven't seen it, but they have a run in them. I'd be surprised if they didn't."

Frazier, Knicks legend and team broadcaster, said it hit him when he reviewed the Orlando roster before the Knicks' victory over the Magic Saturday night. Frazier couldn't figure out why the Magic's record (25-23) was superior to that of the Knicks, who are at 21-28 and will play their season's 50th game tomorrow against the Clippers at the Garden.

"I was looking at this team Orlando: How do they have a better record than we do?" Frazier asked. "Who are these guys? How can they be doing it?"

The wildly unpredictable Knicks are eight games better than last season's pace under Larry Brown, but Frazier still thinks it's an underachievement. The Knicks are just two games shy of matching last season's win total of 23 and could reach that before the All-Star break that begins Feb. 16.

But the Knicks have been unable to get on a major winning streak, following up big wins with horrible losses. They trail the Atlantic Division leader, Toronto, by four games and Miami and the Nets, tied for the eighth seed, by two games.

"We're so inconsistent from game to game," Frazier said. "We can't get an over-the-hump game, that one game that will really give them the momentum. Like the Charlotte game [Wednesday] would've really given them the momentum after beating the Lakers. We never seem to capitalize on a good victory. They need another one to give them confidence."

And now it will be building on the 94-86 Orlando rout in which Eddy Curry dominated Dwight Howard and the Knicks played as tenaciously on defense as they have all season. Coach Isiah Thomas' insertion of physical Jerome James as a starter over Channing Frye injected them with more of a defensive pulse.

"We have to improve on defense," Frazier said. "The thing I was most surprised with Brown is the team didn't play defense. That was his forte. They were not aggressive on defense."

Frazier, however, sees the club progressing in other areas from last season with Thomas as coach.

"I think they've made tremendous progress just because of Curry," Frazier said. "They haven't had a focal point for years now. He's a guy they can build around they didn't have last year. The maturation of [Jamal] Crawford - his shooting percentage is poor but he's still a guy you fear down the stretch. [David] Lee, rebounding and being a real energizer. You didn't have that last year. [Quentin] Richardson, when healthy, is their best defender and he can shoot.

"And I think Isiah's done a good job motivating. They've shown a lot of grit and haven't quit this year. They're unfazed by double-digit deficits. Once last year they got down, that was it."

Frazier admits Brown's coaching job was one of the worst he ever has seen.

"He never really groomed the team when he went to all the different lineups, starting guys in their hometown," Frazier said. "I've never seen that before - other than college."

marc.berman@nypost.com

I, for one, am looking forward to Larry's return.

Whats your point king ? The entire article can be summed up in my condensed version.

Posted by Nalod:

clydes become a real homer.

there is MSG cablevision clyde and then there was the Real Clyde who played basketball and was the coolest MOFO on the face of the planet.

This guy who pretends to be him must get paid alot of money to spew the propaganda we have to waft thru.

Man the HELL are you talking about. Clyde is a colorman and he's always going to be somewhat slanted towards the home team. However, if you actually LISTEN to what the man says, he's always honest about what is going wrong with the team. I really never have gotten why there are some who think he's a homer. Have you ever listened to other broadcast teams from around the league? It's so bad that you can't listen to it. Openly rooting for the home team the entire game. Getting on the refs for everycall. At least Clyde tries to save that stuff for when the team is actually going on a run or playing well. I keep every game on disc and I can tell you that he's not a homer. I've been watching this team since he played for the team and I think it's totally unfair to get on him about the way he calls the games. I think he's right where he should be. Not being practically against the team in a Mike Breen kind of way and not over the top rooting either.

this is a public relations nightmare. When i saw this thread I got excited because I thought Clyde was going to tell it like it is

For this team to make the playoffs, they must play good defense consistently. They've shown good d in spurts, but they need to do it every game for 48 minutes.