Isiah gives Knicks break



BY FRANK ISOLA
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER


Nate Robinson and Knicks don't hear much in way of criticism in the press from Isiah Thomas, even after one-sided loss heading into All-Star break.


LAS VEGAS - As soft as the Knicks were against the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday, Isiah Thomas was even softer.
The Knicks coach neither admonished nor criticized his team for its lousy performance before the All-Star break. Instead, Thomas gave his players a list of excuses to choose from: back-to-back games ... tired legs ... last game before the break.

"We lost," Thomas said when a reporter asked why he was letting his players off easy. "What do you want me to do?"

In Thomas' defense, the Knicks organization frowns on its coaches giving fair and accurate analysis after games. Jeff Van Gundy's critical yet honest observations drove Garden chairman James Dolan mad. Larry Brown did the same, one of the main reasons Dolan fired Brown after one season.

Thomas has been instructed to accentuate the positives and carefully tip-toe around potential land mines. Following Wednesday's 120-101 loss, Thomas declined to go into depth about why Malik Rose was the first forward off the bench rather than David Lee. In fact, Jared Jeffries saw the floor before Lee came in with 1:38 remaining in the first quarter and the Knicks trailing 28-19.
As for Thomas' decision to continue to start Jerome James, all the coach will say is that he likes the matchup. James has started five straight games but has not played more than seven minutes in any of the last four.

Starting James and calling on Rose so early against the Warriors has fueled speculation that Thomas is desperately trying to make a move to upgrade the team for a potential playoff push.

In some ways, the game wasn't a total loss. Nate Robinson, mentioned in several trade scenarios, scored 23 points off the bench in 21 minutes. Channing Frye, another trade subject, scored 10 points. Steve Francis, in his third game back from injury, played 29 minutes.

Rose tried to make the most of his time, firing up six shots in eight minutes. He made just two. Rose is an experienced veteran who could lend something to a team bound for the playoffs. The Cavaliers are a possible landing spot because of Rose's relationship with Cavs GM Danny Ferry, coach Mike Brown and assistant coach Hank Egan. Rose was with the aforementioned trio in San Antonio.

Thomas maintains that he is not anticipating any deals prior to Thursday's deadline. However, Thomas made similar comments the previous two years only to make a deal.

With the Atlantic Division slowing slipping away - Toronto leads the Knicks by a season-high six games - Thomas' team likely will be reduced to fighting for eighth place in the East with Orlando, the Nets and even Atlanta.

What was discouraging about Wednesday's loss is that the Knicks failed to build on Tuesday's last-second victory against the Lakers. Two weeks ago, the Knicks lost to Charlotte after beating the Lakers without Kobe Bryant at Madison Square Garden. They also lost to Milwaukee two days after blowing out the Miami Heat.

Golden State was rested and its quick perimeter players gave the Knicks trouble. But the Warriors were down to nine healthy bodies and were missing starters Baron Davis and Jason Richardson.

Not only did the Knicks lose, they trailed by 31 in the second half.

"The disappointing thing is I didn't think we had energy," Thomas said. "We were a step slow. We didn't have the legs. Our concentration wasn't there. We looked like a very tired team. They were sharp, they were crisp. Before the game, I was a little afraid of this game."

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Article says that Thomas has been instructed to focus on the positives, which might be part of the reason he makes excuses for the team. Like I have said before, as long as he is tearing into the players at practice, I don't care if he does not tear into them with the media. In fact, that is exactly how LB lost the team last year.


[Edited by - thegame on 02-16-2007 1:05 PM]

So why does he make excuses before games?

Its not bull****, and please explain why a team that has Lee, Crawford, Frye, Curry, Nate, and Balkman would ever have tired legs, ISIAH is a such a piece of ****, and deserves the ax, they have a four day layoff before utah and plenty of rest vs. LA, young kids should not have to worry about not having legs in a back to back, especially when the team is missing one of there better players....Richardson is also 26 so he shouldn't be tired.......

You give guys an excuse and they will take it.

Would you say that to his face?

Dolan's dislike of coaches being honest or explaining anything is really bad for hoop junkies. He wants it sugar coated to make sure everything appears nice an rosey!

Its also not being honest to the players. Public humiliation can be effective. They make a lot of money and are expected to perform. They are "professionals" and should be accountable. This is not college, this is a pressure business that requires intensity and preparation.

This is why clowns like Special Nate drive me crazy.

Sure Larry was out there last year but I think he was appalled and sickened by this team and was not afraid of laying out there and being honest to the fans! This Act Dolan is making Isiah do is disrespectful to us and to Isiah!

How can an organization ever succeed if such dishonesty exists at so many levels? When an team can't be honest with itself it won't move forward.

this is just common sense. The man has rings on every level, I think he knows when goes sucked or didn't do what they were supposed to. When he says something different in a press conference, its nothing to get excited about, unless you have some kind of infatuation with him as many do on this board.

if larry brown was sickened and appalled by this team he should've did what rick pitino did on his big contract ......that's the honest thing to do.

instead, lb puts on a dog and pony show just to prove he could take the money and run

Posted by TheGame:

Posted by Bobby:

if larry brown was sickened and appalled by this team he should've did what rick pitino did on his big contract ......that's the honest thing to do.

instead, lb puts on a dog and pony show just to prove he could take the money and run

I agree. LB was a total a**hole. To tank the season and still try to collect that money was just classless. And for that guy to always talk about playing the right way and doing things for the good of the game, just shows what a hypocrite he is.

I totally agree. He knew what he was getting into when he took the job. It's not like the team was already winning 50 games like Detroit. There all he had to do was tweak things and teach them how to get those final few steps. The NY job was going to be a brutal process and he knew that. He acted shocked at how bad the team was and that's just crazy. So his method of bashing them for not having the skills that he already knew they didn't have is ridiculous. The job required patience. He said he loves to teach and yet he seemed unprepared to deal with the long process of teaching a young team that lacked fundamentals.

Isiah rolled up his sleeves and has managed to make some progress. There's still a long way to go, but then that would've been a little easier had LB done his job. Even if the team still lost big, there'd be a base to build off of. Instead we had to start the year from scratch.