By Chris Sheridan on ESPN Insider

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- The only way Eddy Curry was going to have a big bucket Sunday was if he made a stop at Kentucky Fried Chicken on his way home from the Meadowlands.

In one of the biggest games the New York Knicks would play all season, a game in which they had a chance to move into a tie in the Atlantic Division with the cross-river archrival New Jersey Nets, their so-called franchise player was glued to the bench for more than two-thirds of the fourth quarter.

Curry didn't check in until 3:51 remained, and he touched the ball a grand total of one time over the next three minutes while the game still remained remotely winnable.

You want to put this guy on the Olympic team, Isiah?

You made a case that he should have been an All-Star, and you wouldn't even tell him to take his warm-ups off when your team needed a bucket as desperately as it has all season?

What's that all about?

"I just thought defensively we needed a little more foot speed out there, and I thought the primary focus was to try to stop [Vince] Carter and to try to get back in the game," Thomas answered when I posed that very query.

Maybe so, but Thomas had actually already accomplished everything he was looking for by going with a small lineup of Stephon Marbury, Channing Frye, Jamal Crawford, Jared Jeffries and Quentin Richardson to start the fourth quarter, cutting an 11-point deficit to three after Crawford made a 3-pointer with 6:53 left.

That was the time to put Curry back in the game, but Thomas didn't, sticking with the same five.

So let's take a look at how the Knicks' next few possessions went:

A missed 3-pointer by Crawford, a missed 3 by Richardson, followed by an offensive rebound and then a bad-pass turnover by Crawford, a steal by Crawford and a blown dunk by Frye.

The Nets were only able to extend their lead by two over that 2:02 span, and after Curry returned with 3:51 left, Marbury threw a bad pass and jacked up a bad 3 that was followed by Mikki Moore's 20-footer to complete a 6-0 run and give the Nets an 11-point lead and the ballgame.

At that point, Curry still hadn't touched the ball in the fourth quarter. (He added two meaningless garbage-time buckets before the final horn of a 101-92 loss). What are we supposed to make of that, Eddy?

Better yet, what did you make of it?

"The unit that he had in there did a great job of coming back. They almost did it. I don't blame him. It just wasn't my time," he said.

Wasn't your time?

News flash to Curry, and to Thomas, too:

This was your time. This was a chance to draw even in the standings with a team that's been kicking your behind for four years, setting yourselves up for another statement game Monday night across the river against the Miami Heat -- another of the teams directly above you in the standings that will have to be caught in order for there to be playoff basketball in New York again anytime soon.

If you're going to beat those teams, you might want to turn to the most dominant low-post offensive weapon in the Eastern Conference when you really, really need a bucket as badly as you did Sunday midway through the fourth.

If Curry was really worth all those draft picks that you sent to Chicago, as Isiah keeps insisting, how on earth is he not even letting him off the bench when his team needs a bucket like humans need oxygen?

It makes no sense to me, but Curry wasn't going to take my bait and complain.

"I have total faith in his coaching and his substitutions, and I'm going to live by it," Curry said.

I guess it'll be left up to second-guessers such as myself -- and the 5,000 or so Knicks fans who walked out of enemy territory shaking their heads. That's no way to treat an All-Star or an Olympian, and Curry will never be either unless he's out there with the ball in his hands when his team needs two points.



Isiah must be waiting for Kidd to dislocate his shoulder too

Isiah is a horrible coach but he's an even worse GM.

Completely and 100% agreed.


Which is why if he returns as GM we're FUCKED.

the problem with the knicks is besides crawford, our players don't know how to get the ball in to curry.

When teams collapse, we're helpless.

I wonder if Collins would help in this regard?

I also hope that since we are so close to making the playoffs, that if we don't- Dolan can view that failure as a lack of progress and Fire Isiah.

One can only hope...