HOLDING HIS FIRE
By MARC BERMAN

November 18, 2007 -- DENVER - There will be a lot more speculation after the Knicks' 32-point loss to the Nuggets last night that Isiah Thomas is about to get fired - but it will be aimless.

The Knicks' record is awful, their locker room is in turmoil, their coach's decision to bench his lightning-rod point guard has backfired big-time, and through it all, strong indications coming from team brass yesterday say Thomas will not get fired this month.

Though Thomas has told confidants this week he fears he's going to be fired imminently, owner James Dolan apparently does not plan to give the Knicks' president/coach the boot.

The Knicks, exhausted mentally, battered physically and playing their fourth game in five nights, fittingly capped this wretched west coast trip with another disaster. They were destroyed by the Nuggets, 115-83, their season's most lopsided defeat, to finish their trip 0-4. The Knicks beat Denver 10 days ago at Madison Square Garden, but that was before they became a mess.

The Knicks have lost six straight games to fall to 2-7 - 0-3 since Thomas benched point guard Stephon Marbury for Mardy Collins and wrecked his confidence. Thomas' bungling of the Marbury crisis that saw his star point guard bolt the team for 28 hours - possibly with permission - would be a fireable offense anywhere else. But these are the Knicks.

So soon after the Knicks' defeat in their sexual harassment trial, Dolan had to be furious the team became a national joke again this week when the two key trial witnesses went at it, Marbury claiming Thomas gave him permission to leave. Speculation rose the past few days that Dolan was so angered at the Knicks' record and Marbury's departure he was ready to pull the plug on the Thomas Era.

But Thomas is not on a game-by- game leash, even after the Nuggets ran at will and attacked the rim with abandon, Carmelo Anthony soaring for 24 points to lead this athletic group the Knicks can't run with. The Nuggets scored 28 fast-break points to the Knicks' six, many of the transition points coming off turnovers, in a 115-82 win.

Dolan has shown remarkable patience in the past with coaches like Don Chaney, with GM Scott Layden and with Rangers president Glen Sather. And he's ready to give Thomas some time here, especially because Zach Randolph, the Knicks' best player, missed three games of the six-game losing streak. Randolph joined the team late yesterday afternoon, but was out of synch after missing most of the week to grieve for his grandmother.

It's too early for Dolan to second-guess himself for giving Thomas a new four-year contract last March. Dolan stuck by Thomas during the trial and the ongoing appeals process. And Thomas' feud with Marbury over his permanent benching does not warrant a dismissal.

The Dolans released a statement to The Post after the trial, stating there would be no changes in Garden management, and that sentiment appears to still stick.

Thomas is fretting, however. Even during preseason, he appeared concerned about his job security, already thinking ahead to his next stop, and appeared concerned his defeat in federal court would hurt his future chance of employment.

Commenting on the wacky week, Thomas said, "Now that I'm in New York, this is how New York is. We deal with things like this."

Assertions that Cablevision magnate Charles Dolan has been seen in the Garden office recently has nothing to do with him twisting his son's arm about firing Thomas. Charles Dolan's appearances likely were due to stock matters regarding Cablevision's attempt to go private.

Thomas has shattered Marbury's offensive confidence. Marbury didn't come close to the rim on missing his first five shots against the Nuggets.

Although this blowout was not the case, Thomas has talked about many of the Knicks' losses coming down to the final possession.

"We've had a lot of close games," Thomas said. "You look at our record, it could very easily be 6-2 instead of 2-6."

Posted by nixluva:

The reason to fire Isiah has to be a sound one. Besides the losing streak, you have to look at the results of doing such a thing now. Are you trying to salvage this current season or throw another on into the tank? If you care about this current season, I don't think there's any guarantee that you'll save it by firing him and trying to find a GM and Coach at the last minute. Dolan is gonna need time to search for and find a GOOD replacement. In this case it would be 2 people a GM and a Coach. Once again it would be him and Mills making the selection and that is the same group that brought us the problems we've had all these years.

As i've been saying, the best move is to wait and see what happens over the rest of the month and possibly up to the 20 game mark and then if things haven't changed you'll have no choice but to make a drastic move even if it's only an interim one. Hopefully they're already thinking about who they'll target to replace Isiah, so they will be ready to make that move if they have to.

No matter what we'll be totally helpless in the end. We can't trust Dolan and Mills anymore than Isiah. Isiah didn't give himself the job. To me the best case scenario is for this team to snap out of this malaise and win some games. I don't want to see an in season management change, cuz I can't trust Dolan and Mills to get that right either.

Posted by nixluva:

The reason to fire Isiah has to be a sound one. Besides the losing streak, you have to look at the results of doing such a thing now. Are you trying to salvage this current season or throw another on into the tank? If you care about this current season, I don't think there's any guarantee that you'll save it by firing him and trying to find a GM and Coach at the last minute. Dolan is gonna need time to search for and find a GOOD replacement. In this case it would be 2 people a GM and a Coach. Once again it would be him and Mills making the selection and that is the same group that brought us the problems we've had all these years.

As i've been saying, the best move is to wait and see what happens over the rest of the month and possibly up to the 20 game mark and then if things haven't changed you'll have no choice but to make a drastic move even if it's only an interim one. Hopefully they're already thinking about who they'll target to replace Isiah, so they will be ready to make that move if they have to.

No matter what we'll be totally helpless in the end. We can't trust Dolan and Mills anymore than Isiah. Isiah didn't give himself the job. To me the best case scenario is for this team to snap out of this malaise and win some games. I don't want to see an in season management change, cuz I can't trust Dolan and Mills to get that right either.

Posted by nixluva:

The reason to fire Isiah has to be a sound one. Besides the losing streak, you have to look at the results of doing such a thing now. Are you trying to salvage this current season or throw another on into the tank? If you care about this current season, I don't think there's any guarantee that you'll save it by firing him and trying to find a GM and Coach at the last minute. Dolan is gonna need time to search for and find a GOOD replacement. In this case it would be 2 people a GM and a Coach. Once again it would be him and Mills making the selection and that is the same group that brought us the problems we've had all these years.

As i've been saying, the best move is to wait and see what happens over the rest of the month and possibly up to the 20 game mark and then if things haven't changed you'll have no choice but to make a drastic move even if it's only an interim one. Hopefully they're already thinking about who they'll target to replace Isiah, so they will be ready to make that move if they have to.

No matter what we'll be totally helpless in the end. We can't trust Dolan and Mills anymore than Isiah. Isiah didn't give himself the job. To me the best case scenario is for this team to snap out of this malaise and win some games. I don't want to see an in season management change, cuz I can't trust Dolan and Mills to get that right either.