Postseason Is Progress for Knicks
By WILLIAM C. RHODEN

Published: April 23, 2004

THE tough talk this week between the Nets and the Knicks created an interesting distraction to a one-sided rivalry: Tim Thomas of the Knicks insulted the Nets' Kenyon Martin, and Martin walked around practice yesterday wearing a tabloid back page taped to his jersey and called Thomas a career underachiever.


Martin, who had 19 points and 15 rebounds last night, has a point. Thomas did not play last night. But the reality is that the Knicks are just another first-round lamb. They had two lopsided losses in Games 1 and 2, lost Game 3, 81-78, and left little doubt about who is the big bad wolf in the New York metropolitan area.

The most substantial news for Knicks fans is that their team played a postseason game at Madison Square Garden last night. For the Knicks, this playoff appearance — the first since 2001 — is nearly a miracle.

Or don't you remember December.

You have to look at this series through two distinct prisms: a survivor (the Knicks) and an N.B.A. champion in waiting (the Nets).

The Knicks were going nowhere four months ago. Playoff was not a word in the Knicks' lexicon, but lottery was.

"People who know anything about basketball can see that right away," Stephon Marbury said yesterday morning.

In December, Marbury was languishing in Phoenix, Lenny Wilkens was not employed and Knicks Coach Don Chaney was miserable.

Wilkens, who replaced Chaney, has reminded his players that the postseason is a celebration for a franchise that was floundering and left for dead.

"I like to remind them," Wilkens said before last night's loss, "that no one expected them to make the playoffs. Everyone is still asking, `How did they make it?' But it's because they worked hard and focused. Yeah, they weren't the best, but we haven't been long enough together to be that. What they've done has been remarkable."

The changes have been dizzying. Scott Layden was fired as the general manager on Dec. 22, Isiah Thomas was hired and began a long overdue housecleaning at the Garden. Thomas traded for Marbury on Jan. 5, fired Chaney on Jan. 14 and traded Keith Van Horn and Michael Doleac on Feb. 15 for Nazr Mohammed and Tim Thomas.

Fan malaise that had grown over the years has given way to intense scrutiny and false hope that the Knicks can win a game or two against the Nets.

Wilkens said the Knicks have lost track of what they had achieved this season. He did not go so far as to call this playoff series a victory, but it is a mini-triumph.

"We met a small goal," Wilkens said. "But it's not where we want to get to. We're still in the process of trying to get there."

Thomas left the Garden quickly after the loss. But I remember what he said in December about short- and long-term plans. His future goal was to win the N.B.A. championship. His short-term goal in December was a spiritual healing and soul-searching. He described the Knicks as "a team devoid of values."

Marbury knows what the Knicks have overcome to reach the playoffs. "In our situation, our team has been pretty much put together," he said. "We have a group of guys who never played with each other, who are now playing quite well with each other. We pretty much are learning on the fly. We haven't had the opportunity to have what other teams have in terms of camaraderie. As far as playing together, as far as knowing each other, we don't have any of those things and we're still going out competing and playing at a high level."

The difference between the Nets and the Knicks is that the Knicks' clock will not officially begin to tick until they are eliminated from the playoffs. At that point the pressure will be on Thomas to put together a championship-caliber team for next season.

The Nets have a much greater burden. They climbed to the top of the Eastern Conference for two consecutive seasons under the fractious leadership of the former coach Byron Scott. By hook or by crook, Scott led the Nets to where they had never been: the finals.

But a combination of players, front-office personnel and ownership decided in midseason that the Nets would do better and go further under new leadership. How many coaches who led their teams to consecutive N.B.A. finals were fired in the middle of the fourth season?

For a team that has played for the N.B.A. championship for two consecutive years, the only improvement is winning the championship. If they do, the firing of Scott was astute and proper. If they don't? Who knows where the Nets will go.

Jason Kidd knows that he's not interested in a cross-river feud with the Knicks.

"We're not looking for a rivalry," he said. "We're trying to be the first team to four."

No question that they will be. The Nets have now won 15 of the last 16 games against the Knicks.

They're better and they talk trash better.

I'm not impressed. Until the Nets win a championship, their clock is still ticking.