The Knicks Fix

Sitting in a cab on the way to ‘The Q’ last night in Cleveland, I saw a gigantic billboard with LeBron James, a Nike Swoosh and the word, “Witness.” I like to mess with cab drivers – which probably isn’t a smart thing for an out-of-towner to do, but it’s fun to get the ones who are sports fans riled up about the local team – so I said to my driver, “Who’s that guy?”

“That’s the King,” he said. “And you’re about to go to his castle.”

Never heard of him.

He went on to tell me about LeBron James, this phenom. All that. So I said:

I only know of one king, and he has six rings.

“You mean the one from Chicago?” the driver replied.

Twice now I’ve seen this kid LeBron play. Twice I have come away thinking he’s a special player, but other than funny, hip commercials and a sense of celebrity – the mystical talcum cloud he tosses in the air before games is good theater – LBJ ain’t the second coming of MJ. In fact, Kobe Bryant, in my opinion, remains the only player in the NBA that has any reason to claim MJ’s throne.

Jordan wouldn’t have let the Cavs lose a game that was tied at 98 with under a minute left. Jordan wouldn’t have stayed on the perimeter down the stretch and deferred to the likes of Anderson Varejao and Donyell Marshall. Jordan wouldn’t have allowed Quentin Richardson to even be a factor in that game because Jordan would have looked at the Knicks bench and saw Renaldo Balkman as the next option and Jordan would have found a way to get Richardson into foul trouble as early as possible.

Jordan would have posted up a player smaller than him and go at him constantly until that defender was on the bench with six fouls. And Jordan would have hit 15-to-20 free throws if that’s what it took. Even on a bad shooting night, Jordan found a way at the line.

LeBron didn’t. He looked passive. He took just 11 free throws in 41 minutes of a game in which he knew he’d be playing against Richardson. Even before the game, LeBron said Richardson played him physical. So, you would think then, his strategy would be to attack that kind of physical defense with a few power moves and his superior body control and get Richardson in foul trouble. Get the rookie Balkman into the game and then blow the Knicks out to Lake Erie.

Instead, LeBron stayed on the perimeter and clanked all five of this three-pointers. And he missed a critical fingeroll by attempting to avoid contact from David Lee when he should have rose up over him and drew a foul.

Sure, he scored on a few drives and was, at times, overwhelming. LeBron has incredible physical talents. But his killer instinct is not where it needs to be for him to lay claim to being the “Chosen 1” as it is tattooed so arrogantly across his back.

Witness? What I witnessed is a guy who didn’t do enough to help his team beat the Knicks. Even with 27 points, he didn’t do enough to help the team win. Jordan defended, as well. He made life a living hell for guys. LeBron barely put up a hand when Richardson was bombing from three-point range.

Kobe is far more competitive by nature. Kobe gets to the line. Kobe attacks and Kobe takes over a game once it comes down to winning or losing. Kobe isn’t as great as Jordan was, either, but that’s why Jordan is what he is. There can be only one. Kobe comes closest.

If LeBron James to left the arena last night satisfied with his game – he said the shots just didn’t fall – then he has a lot more developing to do before he can be considered one of the game’s best.

That said, Cavs coach Mike Brown did an awful job. How he did not adjust the strategy to get LeBron into more post-up situations against Richardson is curious to me. How he did not instruct Varejao to hack Eddy Curry late in the game – because, if you watch film and read boxscores, Curry isn’t the best free throw shooter right now – is also hard to understand.

Larry Brown is available. The Cavs should make the move while the East is still sitting there waiting to be taken.

* * *

Isiah Thomas celebrated the fact that his team had a .500 road record, which is the best in the East, and also seemed relieved that the tough November schedule was completed.

“We’ve got a very resilient group because every time we’re supposed to get the knockout punch in November, somehow we just find a way to scratch out another win,” he said after beating the Cavaliers to run the Knicks record to 6-11. “This was a tough month for us, but it’s a good month for us because we’ve been challenged in every way possible and we’re still together. And I think we’re getting better.”

I expected to find champagne spray and cigars when I entered the Knicks locker room.

First of all, I’d be far more concerned about December if I was the Knicks coach. The team is 1-6 at home and clearly plays much tighter at the Garden than on the road, where, one might surmise, the pressure is off. But after tomorrow’s game in Detroit against the Pistons, the Knicks have a six-game homestand and play 10 of their next 12 in New York. From the way things are going, that might look more daunting than November.

Second of all, a coach really shouldn’t ever allow the team to exhale. I think it sends a dangerous message that they can now relax. Mike Milbury once told me a story about when he coached the Boston Bruins and the team was on a critical five-game road trip. The team was 3-0-1 in the first four games and had a big win in Chicago. They came into New York to play the Rangers and had an off-day and Milbury took the team out to a Manhattan steakhouse. The Bruins GM, Harry Sinden, called Mike and said, “So much for the winning streak.” Milbury asked why he would say that and Sinden said by taking them out to dinner and rewarding them for the good trip, he made them feel – if only subconsciously – that the work was done.

Sure enough, the Rangers blew out the Bruins the next night.

* * *

Something not everyone saw after Nate Robinson’s ill-advised bounce-to-himself dunk attempt was Thomas tearing into Robinson during the very next timeout. It was a short burst of anger by Thomas, who pointed to the bench as he delivered whatever message he had to deliver to Robinson, who walked away after Thomas was finished. Steve Francis then grabbed Robinson and spoke with him away from the huddle. I credit Thomas for two good coaching moves in that situation. The first was keeping Robinson in the game instead of yanking him. The second was to make sure the entire Knicks team huddled around him when he laced into Robinson, so cameras would not see. Thomas did not do anything to embarrass his young guard. The kid embarrassed himself enough.

Thomas has his coaching flaws, but he is very good at handling his players. He keeps everything within the group and that’s a good trait.

But I wonder if everyone would have been so outraged if Robinson pulled off the stunt without traveling?

* * *

It was a sportswriter’s caravan, as we drove from Cleveland to the Detroit area today to save ourselves from the airport grind and to save our newspapers some money. When I got into the car in Cleveland, it was cloudy, but a balmy 58 degrees. When I got out of the car at my hotel in Pontiac, Mich., it was 20 degrees colder and raining. Definitely soup weather.

It’s not a bad drive along I-90 through Toledo. But there’s not much as far as landscape. Corn fields. Cattle. Tony Packo’s Café (remember Klinger from M*A*S*H?). Then I-280 to I-75 into Detroit, past old Tiger Stadium and up through Eminem’s old neighborhood, through the mile-marker streets (Eight Mile, etc) and into the ‘burbs. Another Marriott. Another room number to remember.

One more road game and then it’s home for the holidays.