Andrew & Martin: I don't know if you guys can scan for a feed on this when it gets updated, but if you can, you may want to put it on the front page. Just an idea. Q-pop

Oct. 10: A new feature on MSG.com's Game On! blog includes a complete transcript of Knicks President, Basketball Operations and Head Coach Isiah Thomas' daily remarks to the media. Now you can read Thomas' quotes just as the beat writers hear them every day -- unedited and uncut.

Isiah Uncut: 10/10 Practice

Here is what Isiah Thomas had to say following today's practice:

Question: Does it feel good to be back at the practice facility back in New York?

Thomas: It definitely feels good to be back in your sanc tuary in terms of the basketball court. Our guys are looking forward to playing in the Garden tomorrow night. I think we’ll have a big crowd and I’m excited to just do good things out on the floor. We had a pretty rough practice today, and our guys are pretty psyched.

Question: What do you mean by rough?

Thomas: A lot of defense, a lot of screaming and a lot of running.

Question: Who did the screaming?

Thomas: Nate, he always screams.

Question: Thursday you play the Macabbi Elite Team. How will you benefit from this experience?

Thomas: Well I think anytime you get a chance to play against international teams we’ve learned a lot from them in the past couple of years. Their ball movement and their spacing, they have different kind of sets and different kind of cuts that we’re not familiar with or see a lot in the NBA. There are some good ideas that you could learn from them, and it’s a good chance to practice against another type of team that plays a different style.

Question: What’s the update on Eddy Curry today?

Thomas: I think he’s doing well. He ran a little bit, didn’t shoot any at all. I think he’ll be out another week.

Question: Are you going to start Zach Randolph in his place?

Thomas: We’ll start Zach and David Lee again.

Question: Is it important to win tomorrow for perception purposes?

Thomas: I think it’s always important to win. They’ll be trying to win the game and we’ll try to win the game also. There is a respect that comes along with international play now that we as Americans have. It’s not as it was 20 years ago. We definitely respect the opponent and they play basketball as well as we do, and have played it better.

Question: Are you shooting at getting Eddy back for one of those two games next week?

Thomas: That I don’t know, but whenever he comes back we’ll definitely welcome him back.

Question: Do you know what to expect tomorrow from the sellout crowd?

Thomas: I think we’ll be received well. Our fans are very vocal. We won them back last year and I think they’ve been very supportive of us and we’re looking forward to keeping them on our side now. It was hard winning them back last year, but once we got them back they stuck with us and they’ve been extremely vocal and very supportive. We’re glad the place is going to be sold out tomorrow, and that says a lot about us.

Question: Does going through all that last year help them with what they will be going up against this year?

Thomas: I think a lot of our players understand New York and the fans better. It’s a tough crowd, but it’s a crowd you want to play in front of. They’ll give you a lot of love, and when you’re not getting the love, they’ll give you boos. You learn to deal with it and man up, walk out on the floor and compete. That’s the kind of crowd you want to play with.

Question: Have you had any communication with Allan Houston today?

Thomas: Not today I haven’t. There’s been talk about him, and I believe he’s possibly coming Friday. I don’t know if the contract has been signed yet, but we’re looking forward to having him.

Question: It’s going to be the same thing. He’s going to have to earn it to make the team.

Thomas: Most definitely. If he’s the Allan Houston that we know, and that we haven’t seen in a while, but if he’s that good a player, we want good players.

Question: So it’s pretty much a done deal?

Thomas: It’s about as done as it can be. Again, contractually I don’t think he’s signed anything yet, but all signals are pointing in that direction.

Question: Do you need his experience in the locker room?

Thomas: We’ve got some guys here who’ve been through some tough times in this league. We don’t necessarily need a locker room monitor. We need a guy who can play.

Question: If he takes the minutes from a young guy, does it signal that you are close and that a veteran like that will put you over?

Thomas: I think we are going to be a good basketball team. I think last year before we were injured we were a good basketball team, and I don’t see why we wont be a good basketball team this year, and if we’re in a position where a player can help us, we’ll definitely look at him and make room for him. He has a desire to play and he wants to play, so we’ll definitely give him the opportunity.


[Edited by - queeniepop on 10-10-2007 6:37 PM]

Here is the link: http://blogs.msg.com/gameon/2007/10/isiah-uncut-101.html

It's from MSG?

Ok, let's remove the "unedited" part.