It’s Rock Bottom in New York

After a tumultuous road trip that resulted in four straight humiliating losses, the Knicks returned home to face the Golden State Warriors. With the heat burning in New York, a midst swirling rumors around who will be the successor to Isiah Thomas, the Knicks had an opportunity to get back on track and quiet all the commotion that had been surrounding them. Unfortunately, instead of showing the type of fight and grit that is needed to win in the NBA, the Knicks went out and embarrassed themselves.

Therefore, rather than following my intended plan which was to provide analysis on tonight’s match-up, lets pin point the problem:


Isiah Thomas: With the Knicks 2-3 on the season and about to engulf on a 4 game West Coast swing, did it really make sense to bench Stephon Marbury? Nobody in their right mind truly believes that Mardy Collins deserves to be starting over Marbury. By making this decision, you’ve managed to humiliate your star and in the same process, create an enormous distraction for the entire team. The end result: 5 straight losses.

Obviously Isiah deserves to be fired more than any executive in the NBA. He’s been given every opportunity to succeed, from an unlimited checkbook, to ultimate decision making power and head coaching responsibilities. However, the Knicks would still be foolish to make a head coaching change at this point in the season. All that would do is concede this entire season and send the wrong message to the players that the towel is being thrown in, just 10 games into the year. The Knicks certainly are not title contenders, but there is still enough talent to become a .500 team.

It didn’t take long for the “Fire Isiah” chants to begin and you can be sure that they won’t be letting up anytime soon.


Mardy Collins: The easiest way for me to describe how Mardy Collins looks playing in an NBA game, is to have you remember back to your Little League days. Everybody had someone on their team, who only got into the game because the league required each player to get in for a minimum of two innings. The player was usually stuck in left field and looked so lost that his parents were embarrassed watching him humiliate himself out there. This is honestly how I feel about Mardy Collins, only there is no league requirement.

In tonight’s game, Collins had his full arsenal on display. He managed to commit 4 turnovers and go 0-2 in just 17 minutes of action. He looked misplaced, confused and without a real purpose of being on the court.

Now that Collins is back in a reserve role, can we officially concede what an utter failure the Mardy Collins era was? The man simply doesn’t belong on an NBA roster, period.


Zach Randolph: I officially have my new least favorite player in the NBA. If there was ever a time that proved how meaningless statistics can sometimes be, it was tonight’s Knicks vs. Warriors game. Had I not watched the entire debacle that took place and instead settled for checking the box score to gauge tonight’s results, I might have been fooled into believing that Randolph played well.

Randolph suffers from a severe case of holding the ball for way too long. The moment the ball touched Randolph’s hands the entire offensive flow would come to a sudden halt. It really didn’t matter if there were 3 guys surrounding Randolph, because quite frankly, he couldn’t care less. Instead he hit the defense with multiple, meaningless jab steps, which resulted in deeply contested jumpers, or he would over dribble, until the ball was stolen.

The real moment that had me screaming like a lunatic and contemplating a late trip to the Garden occurred following one of Randolph’s 7 turnovers (all stats aren’t insignificant). After Randolph was stripped of the ball on offense, he decided not to get back down the court and play defense. Now, I have seen players fail to get back on defense because they are mad at a missed foul call, or maybe they got dinged up, but Zach just said screw it.

The guy is a joke.


Quentin Richardson: Let me start off by saying that there haven’t been too many instances of the two hands to the side of the head, that Q is known for. As much as I would like to applaud Q for his attempts at leadership and his serious demeanor on the court, is just holds no clout when it is coming from a guy that is playing horrendous. It’s like when Malik Rose has a quote in the newspaper, does anyone really care? You simply can’t be a leader on a team, when you have no real value on the court.

Tonight was another atrocious performance out of Q and he really is starting to become a detriment to the Knicks. He can’t hit from long range and he very rarely displays his post game that originally put him on the map.

Has anyone seen D-Miles?


Fred Jones: Why is he in the rotation?


Eddy Curry: Anyone who didn’t think that Eddy Curry was going to be negatively affected by the acquisition of Zach Randolph is foolish. They are both bruisers that clog the paint and need too consistently be fed the rock to find a comfort level. Unfortunately, this rotating style on offense has taken Eddy out of his game and diminished some of the fire he displayed last season.

With that being said, there is no excuse for the lack of rebound production that Eddy Curry is giving the Knicks. Get tough!!!


Stephon Marbury: Say what you want about the guy, but he is still your best player. To steal a poker term, the Knicks are ‘pot committed’ to Stephon as their point guard for this season. If they are going to have any hope of steering this ship in the right direction, they are going to need Steph to play up to his capability.

Steph was the only Knick that came out to compete tonight. He handled the boos throughout the entire first quarter, I guess as well as possible. All it takes is a few buckets to silence the crowd and a few wins to get them back on your side.


At 2-8 things can’t get much worse for the Knicks. The next stretch certainly doesn’t get any easier with Detroit, Chicago and Utah on deck and the temperature rising in New York. One thing is for sure, if the Knicks are going to have any chance to start winning, everyone is going to have to elevate their current level of play.