|
Rich
Posts: 27410
Alba Posts: 6
Joined: 12/30/2003
Member: #511
USA
|
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/14/sports/basketball/14knicks.html
The New York Times
October 14, 2004
Tim Thomas Promises All Is Not Forgotten
By STEVE POPPER
GREENBURGH, N.Y., Oct. 13 - It has been almost six months since the Knicks' season ended in disappointment, embarrassment and frustration. Four straight losses to the Nets in the first round of the playoffs underlined the Knicks' place in the one-sided rivalry, and the squawking of Tim Thomas after a flagrant foul in Game 1 that sidelined him for the rest of the series served as a reminder of what might have been.
Since then, the Knicks have added to a roster already rebuilt on the run, and the Nets have cut costs and come away a shadow of the team that won three straight Atlantic Division titles and went twice to the N.B.A. finals.
And Thomas is still angry.
The Knicks and the Nets will meet Thursday night in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., in a meaningless preseason game. But the bitter feelings still float over this game, Thomas having called Jason Collins, who fouled him hard in Game 1 of the series last season, a coward.
But in light of Thomas's recent statements about the former Nets forward Kenyon Martin, Thomas and Collins seem like old friends. Thomas has offered to face Martin, who was traded to Denver in the off-season, in a boxing ring.
Thomas said he never received an apology for the foul by Collins that sent him crashing to the Continental Arena floor and required him to be taken from the arena on a stretcher, and he does not want one now.
"I mean, some guys are cowards about it," Thomas said. "It is what it is. I won't be the last one he does it to."
Thomas said the worst part was knowing that his children were home watching on television, seeing their father helped off the floor. But on the court it cost the Knicks, too, leaving the team without one of its most potent scorers, a player who had averaged 17.8 points against the Nets in the postseason a year earlier while he was a member of the Milwaukee Bucks.
"It just took out a scorer," Thomas said. "Someone who in the series a year before that had given them trouble. They knew that coming in. How can you settle it?"
Thomas was also upset that none of his teammates retaliated, a situation he said he was certain would be different now that the team had spent more time together.
"Tim expected a little more from us," said Kurt Thomas, who was - to his surprise - named one of the team's three captains Wednesday with Stephon Marbury and Allan Houston. "We were already undermanned. He was already down. By us going out there and intentionally fouling someone or getting in a fight, we'd lose other guys. It was just about going out there competing, trying to get a win."
With Martin gone and Jason Kidd sidelined for at least the preseason and most likely longer after knee surgery, the Nets have their own worries. The Knicks, for the most part, were trying to look ahead and use Thursday's game as the first step in what they hope will be a far different outcome in the rivalry.
REBOUNDS
Kurt Thomas was named a captain after another off-season of trade rumors and having to fight off the second-year forward Mike Sweetney for the starting power forward job. "I think that he worked real hard and set a great tone in training camp," Coach Lenny Wilkens said. "When he's on the floor it's the same thing. He doesn't take nights off. The rumors, if you're in this league you're going to hear the rumors. You can't let it affect you and I wanted him to know I appreciate what he does." Thomas said, "Patrick Ewing was a captain and he got traded, right?"
Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company
|
