Most of you probably know by now, Stephon Marbury is back in the starting lineup tonight against the Warriors at the Big Top. The circus has returned to the Garden.
I can't be the only one that is dying to know what dirt Marbury has on his coach.
How will the Garden faithful receive him during the pregame introductions? Will he be introduced last -- the sacred place once owned by Patrick Ewing -- as he has been since his arrival?
We've already had our uproar about the whole Isiah-Steph thing. How the players were alienated and the room is definitely fractured somewhat off of last week's controversy. I just want to know why Isiah would choose this game; the first home game after an 0-4 road trip that included his player ditching his team on the first day of the trip. Why start him now?
Why subject this punch-drunk team to the hostility of the fans and the intensity of the media? Why bring more controversy to the table?
One theory presented to me earlier today was that Marbury is likely to hear less boos among the starting lineup (with all the music and noise the Garden can muster into the sound-system to drown you out) than when he goes to the scorer's table to check-in.
I disagree. Isiah can insert Marbury during a timeout and he can be quickly introduced as the music dies down off a timeout. It's been done before.
This team is completely engulfed in a culture of chaos right now. Isiah is eschewing accountability in his desperation for wins. Marbury clearly wants to start and figures he plays better as a starter than off the bench. As he said earlier today, the team was 2-3 when he was sent to the bench and has lost four straight since. The move didn't accomplish much on paper.
But it could have accomplished a great deal in the room. The short term pain for the long term gain.
Instead, Isiah backtracked and turned one controversial day in Phoenix into a disaster that just won't go away.
Enjoy the game, if you can.
Comments (34)
Stephondle? Thomas? I will scream loud and hard against the loser in charge, Dolan. It all funnels up, and although I want the previously mentioned removed from our sacred place, I want people to throw beer on James Dolan.
If anybody wants to pickett outside MSG in the near future, hit me up
dabatboy2001@yahoo.com
i will be there, and yes, i will boo both zeke and star-jerk. i dont like to boo players, whom i generally assume are doing their best, but these two are definitely not putting the team and fans first. i'm starting to feel sick, just thinking about being in a room with them.
yes, dolan is a big jerk, no doubt about it, i have heard second hand horror stories about the guy that are simply unreal. i can not defend the guy one bit, but of late, the question has come to my mind: if the knicks stink because of his mangement, then why don't the rangers stink?
Better than Mardy Collins and his 1.8 asst
sec11rowH:
Easy answer. Dolan doesn't care about the Rangers and leaves them alone. they have been a more normal franchise -- some success, some failure, some good ideas, some bad ideas. but sports people run the Rangers. Dolan runs the knix. into the ground.
You guys are acting like girls...if you are a fan of a team be a fan...your boos will do no good. Is steph gonna run off the court and hide if you boo him or does he have to go out on the court regardless and play for fans that are booing him. It makes NO SENSE to boo YOUR own team!
I'm mad now...and I got to go home and watch the game...in PA so I had to order the League Pass for $159 I wouldn't boo my boys for nothing!
Alan-you are fostering all this nonsense. Stop reporting all this crap. You are with the team...if this Isaiah/Steph thing is all THEY seem consumed with then you are right to print it but if they are working hard, trying to get better, enjoying eachother in the locker room then lets hear about that as well. 2-7 same record as last year with much better potential to improve...Come on...I thought I had a blog to talk to and hear fans good opinion about basketball. This is nonsense....every team, family, office or corporation has arguements...I am in the government and work in a high ranking officer's office and people have a hard time getting along with each other but we all work hard at our task and try to get it done just like you do at your job. Just like our team is. So with all that being said lets talk about
NEW YORK KNICKS BASKETBALL PLEASE!!
Blaine Clay-
Amen. LGK!!
My theory on why Steph is starting:
Thomas knows that there's definitely going to be one person in MSG who will get booed worse than Thomas himself will.
It's our right to boo. We love this team and the people in charge have turned it into carnival of awfulness. They got rid of Sprewell, they got rid of Marv Albert, Jeff Van Gundy, and on and on and now it's our turn, our obligation, to get rid of them!
Just a quick thought. Is it possible that Thomas is trying to maximize the booing in order to foster an "us against the world" thing? Apparently he's taken that approach before.
Marbury was roundly booed whenever he touched the ball at the onset of the game. Also at his intro.
Tod, I couldn't have said it better!! Who on the Knicks team is a better point guard than Marbury? Mardy Collins has 6 turnovers already. They say Mardy is a great defender, Baron Davis is eating his lunch. I'm going to keep repeating this until he is traded or released, "Why is Q-Rich on the team".He gives you nothing. Give Sacramento whoever they want, just get Ron-Ron. Maybe his defensive presence will rub off on the rest of the team.
Screw Isiah. I really hope this is it. Dolan is a dumb idiot but even he must realize it's time for Isiah to go.
The booing and the chanting, it's beautiful and Isiah deserves all of it.
Anyone see Isiah on the postgame? Guy knows he's a dead man walking by the way he was smiling and talking. Can't leave fast enough!
"Alan-you are fostering all this nonsense. Stop reporting all this crap. You are with the team...if this Isaiah/Steph thing is all THEY seem consumed with then you are right to print it but if they are working hard, trying to get better, enjoying eachother in the locker room then lets hear about that as well. 2-7 same record as last year with much better potential to improve...Come on...I thought I had a blog to talk to and hear fans good opinion about basketball. This is nonsense....every team, family, office or corporation has arguements."
Blaine,
Can you name one other NBA team this season/last season that had its highest-paid player throw a temper tantrum and fly home upon being told that he would not start that night's game, thus forcing his team to play without him?
Can you name one other NBA team this season/offseason/last season that had its general manager found guilty of multiple charges of sexual harassment at work?
Names and dates please.
Thank you.
@Blaine
If the team is working hard, I didn't see it tonight.
Totally unacceptable
I can accept losing to a superior opponent, but I can't accept the mental mistakes, the errant passes, or the lack of boxing out.
Z-Bo walking up the floor on a turnover is something I hope I don't see again.
tonight was one of the great nadirs of nix bball, and that is really saying something. the crowd was out for blood (isaah's and star-jerk's), and they got their pound of flesh. marbury was vocally tortured throughout the game, loud fans begging to buy him a ticket to italy, hecklers clearly heard taunting him as "the best point guard". a loud fan very much within his earshot repeatedly and loudly described him as a cancer and poison. loud chorus' of "fire isaah" rained down from the upper reaches.
as much as it was clear that the fans have turned once and for all against the two-headed monster known as star-jerk isaah-bitch, it was even clearer that the rest of the team has QUIT. curry, q-rich and jamal all laid down like dogs. even lee was completely dispassionate.
this team has no chance of turning this around, and isaah will be fired shortly. we can only hope that star-jerk follows him out the door, at any cost.
Alan,
If the losing were to continue, do you think making a change from Thomas to Herb Williams would be sufficient to change the culture/attitude of the team, or would there need to be a house cleaning of sorts?
This is it. The Isiah Thomas story has come to an end. I have always been a big supporter of Isiah, but I feel bad for the guy. There is no doubt that he worked hard and tried his best to build a championship team, but his best, was not good enough. NY is a different animal, and the fans won't tolerate being bad for long. Dolan must pull the plug on this mess. If I were Dolan, id do the following:
1) Fire Isiah, name glen grunwald as interim GM and name Herb as interim coach.
2) Tell Marbury to go home. Not buy him out, but let him sit home the rest of the season and stay far away from this team. In the offseason they can trade his expiring contract.
3) Target Colangelo or Walsh as the new gm, and go after Phil Jackson in the offseason.
This team needs a fresh start, with a new philosophy and a new culture.
Kiki Vandeweghe for President
Keep dreaming Hani.
Kiki is not a good GM. Look at his tenure in Denver. I agree that after the latest humiliation of this franchise and its fans that its time for a change, but I'm not sold on Kiki as an answer.
The ship be sinkin'
-- Michael Ray Richardson
Isiah is a quality individual and I'm loving the way he's taking this heat/hate. Who since O.J., Michael Vick and Jesus (yes, they hated him too) have people turned on someone so badly. Nobody in the NBA has had to stand up to the kind of heat/hate he's taking. And he's taking it like a man. Unbowed. That said, it will be that much sweeter when this team starts winning. But it won't be handed to them. It's gut check time. The team is not giving the effort. They are going to have to scratch and claw and fight for every game. The fans have every right to give it to them for a lack of effort. That is a fan's job. But you also have to know that the team feeds off of what you give them. You have to let them know that there is some place they can go where they are not hated. That's a fan's job too. There's an energy in the Garden right now. It's a bad energy, but it's there. It can be turned with effort. They have to snap out of this funk and get it in gear. Play aggressive defense. Share the ball. Communicate. Pick and roll. Trust your teammates. Move without the ball. Dammmmmn, I miss Balkman. And I believe he needs to start taking more of a leadership role. You don't have to be the leading scorer to be a leader in the locker room. I think he's more of a factor for the lack of effort than Marbury. When Balkman's out there it seems like everybody "hustles harder". Get well soon dude, we need you.
Jay Bee,
I admire your positivity. For real. I hope you are right. But man, these guys are 6-23 since the Isiah contract extension. I don't know if they can get it together.
I realize this may be tantamount to moving deck chairs on the Titanic . . . but isn’t it time to give Chandler some minutes at the 3? Balkman has a bad ankle. Q has been awful, and even if he does get his game together, I’d rather see him in the backcourt. Quick small forwards will run rings around Lee. Can we do much worse? Isn’t this exactly when we have the luxury to experiment? When nothing else is working?
Did anyone see Isiah after this horrible game? Smiling, shaking hands, hugging people. Could you imagine Pat Riley if his team was playing like this? Does anyone care on this team? Disgraceful!
And what about the players yukking it up on the bench during the blowout? Led by none other than the laughing Marbury. Time to clean house!
Watching the Knicks makes my stomach turn.
These players are just bums, pure and simple. How can you have 20-something turnovers in any game, especially against a 2-6 team! I see less turnovers when I play at the Y for a couple of hours.
They're all a disgrace. They have no heart, no fire, and no intensity. They are making the same mistakes they have made their entire careers, and none of them has gotten any better at anything. Who has improved on this team since when they got here?
Supposedly Lee worked on his shot all summer. Where is it? Supposedly Nate is now a smart player. Where are his assists? And those are the guys that I sort of like.
I know I'm exaggerating a little because I'm so upset at the state of this team right now, but jesus christ. Will any of these guys ever step up?
It looks like they've never played together before, when this is the same core they've had the past few years. Even the guys with really big strengths (Randolph's low-post game, for example) don't know how to use them (Randolph trying to shoot over triple teams, for example). If I were the coach I would sit all their asses down, make them watch every second of every game, and point out all of their horrible defensive lapses. How could they continue to do the same thing every night if they have to look at it and get called out for their lazy play?
The answer can be only two things: the coach is doing a miserable job, or the players just don't care. I happen to think it's a little of both. Even without the coach, the players should instinctively see that what they're doing is not working.
But like Oakley said, these guys just don't seem to care. Another loss? Oh well, time to go eat a $50 steak.
There's really no need to fire Isiah right now, for what? Are they going to get any better under Herb? If Phil Jackson takes the extension from LA then maybe you fire him but if he doesn't then wait until the season is over and give Jackson full power and let him run things with a good GM (or keep Isiah as the GM since he's owed money and Jackson would have to sign off on any deal anyway). This players aren't that bad, they just need a great, not good, coach to shape them. people want to punish Isiah for the teams play by firing him but then what happens to the team? The Isiah live or die with this team.
Forget Jerry West, Kiki Vandeweghe or any former Knick people think would do a good job. Look at the teams Kiki and West left in Denver and LA, I don't see anything great there.
Sorry for the sloppy post, should ahve previewed it first. Also I meant to type Memphis instead of LA for Jerry West.