Kurt is banged up, no outside shot to spread the opposing teams' D, no post play.

chemistry,

The team needs time. Teams that are together a long time know each others habits. They know where they are on the court. There is no hesitation. which lead to fewer TOs. They no how their teamates will Rotate on Defense. Give the team time. I hope Lenny finds a 9 or 10 man rotation and sticks to it (hopefully with Shandon and Othella buried on the bench) Let the team play together and by the playoffs I think they should be OK.

IMHO, its motivation. Who was it that posted Steve Kerr's take on Lenny Wilkin's not being a motivational coach? Whoever it was, I agree with that. Plus, you're talking about the highest paid guys in the NBA. Anyone take a psych class knows what I'm talking about with money and loss of motivation?

What we get instead of wins are excuses (i.e. didn't have my legs, we're not used to each other, new coach, etc.)...

I mean, are they so emotionally fragile that the media has to take responsibility for their play? All their weaknesses come from them not giving a damn.

Posted by simrud:

On paper we are so damn good. Houston, Marbury, Tim Thomas, Kurt Thomas, Deke/Nazr, FW, Penny, Sweets, Anderson, this is not a bad team.
I'm incredibly pissed off because ther is no reason for us to suck like we do. Can somebody propose a sinsible theory as to why we suck so much.

sad but true this game is no fantasy league. before the break we weren't only looking good. we were dangerous. I still think we can get better, that we're just in a bad bad slump right now. confidence is shaken, chemistry is lost. this game is harder with that. They'll turn it around. they need time cause a team can only abosrbs a certain amount of changes in one season. We got many changes, more than the other 28 teams. need time to find out who we are now, and to forget who we had a chance to be before the break.

I don't usually agree with Mike Lupica, but I think this article is right on:

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/story/169466p-148003c.html

Isiah's plans worth a shot

Knicks need time & Houston

People get off Isiah Thomas pretty fast now, which means fast even for New York. He came out of the blocks with as much early speed as any New York sports executive you want to talk about, he got the city excited about New York again, he brought back Stephon Marbury, a child of the city, to run the game at the Garden and Lenny Wilkens to coach it. Now the Knicks have a bad couple of weeks. The fans decide they don't like the trade that sent Keith Van Horn away nearly as much as they liked the one for Marbury. So the honeymoon ends as easily as the Knicks turn the ball over these days.

If you play this all the way out, Van Horn would have changed every bad thing that's happened lately. It makes him a lot more than he was here. It happens to be Isiah Thomas who is trying to change everything at the Garden, back to what it used to be. He got the Knicks back into play. They're not out of play because they've lost six in a row. They're not even out of play because the last six games under Wilkens look a lot like the last six games before Don Chaney left.

Knicks fans have been down too long to become front-runners this quickly. Thomas couldn't possibly have gotten this dumb between Marbury and Tim Thomas.

"If everything we're doing is wrong now because we didn't go to New Orleans and win, we didn't go to Dallas and win, we didn't win in Sacramento and Denver and those other places, then everything's gone wrong for a lot of teams from the East," Thomas said yesterday.

A little over a week ago, people started chanting Van Horn's name at the Garden. Oh. First the Garden didn't want Van Horn because the Knicks traded Latrell Sprewell to get him. All of a sudden, after a handful of losses, they loved a new Knick like he was an old Knick. And everywhere, people wondered if Thomas should have left well enough alone, at least for this season, and made his run with the Knicks team that looked like it was starting to make a run.

"Tim Thomas is going to be a good player here," Thomas said. "He's a real small forward, which means he balances out our team. By balancing out our team, I believe he makes us a better team, and more athletic. And what I've been trying to do since the day I got here is make us a better, more athletic team. I've made the moves I've made to try to get us into the playoffs this year, and to also make us better for years to come. And as I sit here today, we're in the No. 6 spot in the conference, with a chance on March 1 to play meaningful games."

Thomas paused and said, "If somebody had told our fans two months ago that every game their team played from March 1 until the end of the season was going to matter, I believe they would have jumped on that."

The Knicks did fine for a while without Allan Houston, their best shooter, and even seemed ready to make a run at a .500 record. Then the absence of Houston caught up with them, the way it would with the high scorer on any team. This isn't making excuses. It is just the way things are in the NBA.

"I'll turn on the television and hear people say, 'Oh, the 76ers did this without Allen Iverson,' " Thomas said. "Or 'The Raptors did this without Vince Carter.' And I would think to myself, my guys don't have their best shooter."

The Knicks got going good under Wilkens and Stephon Marbury and everybody got giddy, saying it was going to be 1999 all over again, that the Knicks were going all the way to the conference finals, no matter what playoff seed they had. As if this Knicks team had suddenly turned into one that had Houston, Sprewell, Marcus Camby playing the best ball of his career, Kurt Thomas, Larry Johnson. And, oh by the way, Patrick Ewing still hanging around.

"Listen," Thomas said, "it would have been a nice Cinderella story, but we weren't going from dead in the water to the NBA Finals."

"If we're healthy the rest of the way," he said, "I think we're going to make the playoffs, and be a real tough out once we do."

So the Knicks need to play now. They've got 21 games to become a real team, and give their fans more season than they ever thought they could have. And you want to know what that season is? Going up against Detroit or Jersey or Indiana in the first round of the playoffs, getting one of the first two games on the road, coming back to the Garden 1-1 for the first playoff game of any kind there in two years. Taking that kind of big swing.

"Sometimes in sports it's not the worst thing in the world to get knocked back a little, or get knocked down," Thomas said yesterday. "Sometimes if you get knocked on your --- and you get back up, that builds the kind of resolve good teams are supposed to have. And gives those teams something to draw on when you really get knocked back, or knocked down, in a short playoff series."

Before Thomas got to town, you wondered if the Knicks would ever get up. You want to rethink everything if the Knicks don't make the playoffs, fine with me. But you've got to hang with him longer than this.

Originally published on March 2, 2004

The reason has to do with the team lofty expecatations! Playing in MSG is a challenge for any ,knowing getting booed for poor performance can kill self confidence in a team. Thomas gave us all great expectations for this season making trades and having fans think we were going somewhere in playoffs,then he took it all away in one trade. Now we have people who make 99 excuses on why we play bad now and how great we will be next yr without even knowing who's gonna be here. Fickled fans need to sac up and realize we had chemistry (playing well etc..), Zeke wanted balance (during playoff run). This is what jacked our team up!

Lupica to the rescue. His points make sense.

likely the resurgence winning we had was over the top, and losing to the extreme the last 7 games. Team is still doing well playoff hunt wise, but should be at .500 on paper.

Too many changes may be a fair statement, but team if team is just to creep in the playoffs this year, could do some damage, and then with a few more changes for next year and a training camp, I would expect big things the next two years. If not, then we can evaluate Isiah fairly.

New York fans are fickle. REAL or not, they expect results. Management sells us a line of winning and we expect it. Tell me we rebuilding and I am patient, as many fans would be. But that is not where this franchise is ever going to go. Thats too bad, because if done right, its exciting. Denver is not a contender yet, but they are buzzing about that team now for the future. Sell the winning, or sell the hope. Personally, I don't like the way our franchise has been run since 1975. There has not been much change in philosophy, and until you change that, we will have some hope, but not long term success.

KVH was the Savior of the franchise? That would be a hoot. We were winning at the time, and Starburya and KVH were playing a good game. As was Doleac. It will take some time.

Rebounding is a problem, and KVH does it at twice the rate of TT. A few here and there do add up. NAzr fills the gap on paper, but we know that rarely works itself that way. WE were getting good rebounding at the SF spot, that was a nice advantage. If Isiah was out to rid of Laydogs players, and just looking at the stats, then shame on him! I would think a higher thought process takes place, so I am not saying that is what happend. But would blast it to hell if it did.

Penny has not been able to fill the void. That hurts. His wheels are shot. If its a price we have to pay to obtain Steph, so be it.

I hope the assets are in place for us to get Wallace. He is not a high charactor guy, but this team is not about nice guys anymore.

Messing with Frank Williams has been a mistake. I am sure we can package him and KT for Sheed. Frank will have a nice career, and we will get older in the process. Its the Knick way since 1975.

[Edited by - nalod on 03/02/2004 09:57:17]

Posted by Nalod:

Messing with Frank Williams has been a mistake. I am sure we can package him and KT for Sheed. Frank will have a nice career, and we will get older in the process. Its the Knick way since 1975.

[Edited by - nalod on 03/02/2004 09:57:17]

right on the head.