All Over For Isiah In Madison Square Garden? Might Be
By Chris Sheridan
ESPN.com
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Archive)
NEW YORK -- This might have been it. This might have been Isiah Thomas' last game as head coach of the
New York Knicks.
Before we go any further, let's go back and emphasize the word
might.Having covered Madison Square Garden chairman James Dolan and his New York Knickerbockers up close and personal for as long as we have, which is more than adecade, we have learned one universal truth: If it involves Dolan and the Knicks, err on the side of caution and choose illogic over logic. So with thatspecific caveat dispensed, we'll go back to our original thought and explain just why we grew inclined to believe over the course of a strange, illogicalMonday -- even by Knicks' standards -- why the end seems to be at hand for the architect and head coach of one of the NBA's charter franchises.
Reason No. 1: Dolan attended the Knicks' 100-88 loss to the
New OrleansHornets along with Garden president Steve Mills and vice president of communications Barry Watkins. Mills did not sit in his usual seat next to Dolanduring the game, but he did accompany Dolan on a postgame visit to the coach's office, the threesome staying for only a few brief moments before walkingstonefaced past reporters as they exited the building. Asked during the game whether Dolan had any plans to speak to the media anytime soon, Watkinstext-messaged back: "We're taking things one day at a time."
Reason No. 2: The
Stephon Marbury situation. Thomas told reporters at theteam's morning shootaround that Marbury would be attending the game Monday night and would speak with reporters. When a Marbury-related question was posedto Thomas 90 minutes prior to tipoff, he deflected it by saying "you can ask him yourself." When this reporter followed up by pointing out that therewas one Marbury-related question that only Thomas himself could answer -- whether Thomas had placed any restriction on Marbury from attending home games orspeaking to the media -- Thomas stood up before the question was finished being asked and left the room. Team beat writers said it was the fourth time in hispast seven media availability sessions that Thomas had ended things by abruptly walking away. Marbury never showed up. Perhaps he had a reason, or perhaps theKnicks were creating a diversion and/or spinning the blame Marbury's way by making him look like a no-show following reports late last week -- which stillhave not been directly addressed in any kind of detail by the Knicks -- that Marbury had been told not to attend home games. A source close to the situationconfirmed to ESPN.com that Marbury was indeed told to stay away, although the Knicks reversed course Monday and told Marbury he was free to attend. Thomaswould not answer afterward when asked if Marbury would be fined or suspended for missing the game.
Reason No. 3: Dolan's ego, and the Knicks' desire to keep their owner from being ridiculed. We're getting close to the one-yearanniversary (March 11) of Dolan rewarding Thomas with a multi-year contract extension, which means we're close to several days worth of columns skeweringDolan's dubious decision in the New York media. But if Thomas exits the picture in the next day or two, the topic then changes to "Well, at leastDolan finally came to his senses." In a corporate culture at Madison Square Garden where spinning the media coverage is of paramount importance, thisreason may outweigh the others all by itself.
Reason No. 4: The horror show on the court. The Knicks only trailed New Orleans by four points with 1:08 left, yet by the time a timeout wascalled just 32 seconds later, an alley-oop dunk (
Chris Paul to
Tyson Chandler) and a three-point play by Paul (who was not being defended by the one playeron the Knicks quick enough to defend him,
Nate Robinson, because Thomas had removedRobinson with 1:33 left) had made it a nine-point game, sending the crowd streaming toward the exits.
Morris Peterson added a 3-pointer with 12 seconds left for the final margin. The loss droppedNew York a season-high 24 games under .500, and the Mendoza line -- matching Larry Brown's 23 wins when he was coach of the Knicks two years ago -- mightbecome increasingly difficult to reach with each passing loss. So there you have it, four reasons to back up the premise that this
might have beenIsiah's last game with the Knicks. That doesn't mean you should necessarily look for him to be fired Tuesday, because it would be just like Dolan toleave everyone twisting in the wind for another day and drop the axe sometime late in the afternoon Wednesday. That, after all, was the way things went downfour years ago when Dolan got rid of Don Chaney, who coached the Knicks at the morning shootaround that fateful day but found out he was getting fired as hewrote the game plan on the greaseboard two hours prior to tipoff. Legend has it that security guards escorted Chaney from the building that evening, althoughthe Knicks have always insisted that's not how it happened. Exactly how and exactly when the end comes for Thomas -- and whether he gets the security guardescort -- will remain a mystery for the moment, but plenty of signs were there Monday pointing to an end that could be upon us at any hour, any day.
