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02-09-2006, 07:49 AM
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February 9, 2006
Sports of The Times
Nets Going East, Knicks Going South
By GEORGE VECSEY (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/columns/georgevecsey/?inline=nyt-per)
East Rutherford, N.J.
EVERYBODY knows where the Nets (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/probasketball/nationalbasketballassociation/newjerseynets/index.html?inline=nyt-org) are going: Brooklyn. But where exactly are the Knicks (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/probasketball/nationalbasketballassociation/newyorkknicks/index.html?inline=nyt-org) going? There is no construction permit, no road map, no flight plan for these hapless vagabonds.
The franchise with a present humiliated the franchise with a past last night in the Meadowlands, much worse than the 96-83 score indicates. The Knicks have now lost 7 straight games, while the Nets have won 12 straight games at the home they will vacate as soon as the 2009-10 season. The Nets may be moving, but at least they have talent and hope.
Since their first season of 1946-47, the Knicks have actually had four worse records than their current percentage of .292, but in aesthetic ways, it has never been this bad.
"Collectively, I don't know if we're matching the energy of the teams we're competing with," Coach Larry Brown (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/larry_brown/index.html?inline=nyt-per) said long after the game. Nobody in his locker room disputed him. This team is lost.
This failure is a reflection of everybody at Madison Square Garden, most notably James L. Dolan of Cablevision, but also Isiah Thomas (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/t/isiah_thomas/index.html?inline=nyt-per), the team president, who put together this amorphous group. Under Brown, the players mill about, unsure of their roles. As Antonio Davis noted the other day after his escape to Toronto, it is impossible to tell if the Knicks are running a youth movement or a seniors team.
Last night Brown said Thomas had asked him to write down his assessment of this team, adding that evaluations are normal around midseason.
"If it gets to the point where we're not winning games, the younger players will play more," Brown said. "We're trying to build something here."
After the game he changed his tune, listing players in their early 20's and saying, "I think I'm playing the young guys."
Part of Brown's problem this season has been the new league rule that allows 15 players on a squad, 12 of them suiting up each game. Coaches have enough trouble satisfying their 10th, 11th and 12th players, but now they have to tell players to keep that David Stern (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/s/david_stern/index.html?inline=nyt-per)-mandated jacket and tie on, sit at the far end of the bench and look enthusiastic. Brown has used 15 different starting players so far, which is not a tribute to depth or versatility as much as an indication of desperation.
"Everybody's commenting on the lineups, but I go into the locker room and I don't know who's going to play," Brown said before Stephon Marbury's (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/m/stephon_marbury/index.html?inline=nyt-per) sore shoulder kept him from playing against Jason Kidd (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/k/jason_kidd/index.html?inline=nyt-per) last night.
There is no continuity. Thomas brought in Jalen Rose last week, for his scoring touch and experience, and Brown has now used Rose for 39 minutes per game in three games, far above the 26.8 minutes he was working in Toronto. Tired legs lead to tired brain cells, which may explain why he helped botch the inbounds play in Tuesday night's loss to the Clippers (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/probasketball/nationalbasketballassociation/losangelesclippers/index.html?inline=nyt-org).
Taking the ball out of bounds, Rose watched four strangers wearing the identical uniform, who did not have the wit to break loose to receive his pass. In any kind of stable franchise, that would be the kind of chemistry that came from training camp and the first half of a season. With no timeouts available, and no teammates open, Rose let the maximum five seconds tick away, and the Knicks had to give up the ball.
"You feel terrible," Brown said last night. "I put these guys in a bad situation." Brown often blames himself, a professed humility that should not deter from the reality that chaos is usually the coach's fault. By now, the Knicks ought to have 9 or 10 regulars who are game sharp. It still looks like October training camp.
Last night Brown insisted he and Thomas were on the same page with their plans for this team. "I talk to him all the time, but sometimes coaches are not objective," Brown said. "They didn't tell me it would be easy."
It was not pretty last night, as Vince Carter (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/c/vince_carter/index.html?inline=nyt-per) converted several acrobatic, body-English drives. Against a team with more pride, Carter might not have had quite so much space to work on his style points.
Last year Brown was coaching the defending champion Detroit Pistons (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/probasketball/nationalbasketballassociation/detroitpistons/index.html?inline=nyt-org), with five established starters. This is quite a comedown. After the embarrassment last night, both Brown and the assistant coach Herb Williams addressed the team about playing harder.
"The thing is, we've heard it before," Eddy Curry said.
The Nets are playing in an arena surrounded by new parking garages for an amusement park that will be built before they split for downtown Brooklyn. The Knicks are staying in Midtown Manhattan, but otherwise their future is fuzzy and bleak.
E-mail: [email protected]
Copyright 2006 (http://www.nytimes.com/ref/membercenter/help/copyright.html)The New York Times Company (http://www.nytco.com/)
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/ads/spacer.gif
February 9, 2006
Sports of The Times
Nets Going East, Knicks Going South
By GEORGE VECSEY (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/columns/georgevecsey/?inline=nyt-per)
East Rutherford, N.J.
EVERYBODY knows where the Nets (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/probasketball/nationalbasketballassociation/newjerseynets/index.html?inline=nyt-org) are going: Brooklyn. But where exactly are the Knicks (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/probasketball/nationalbasketballassociation/newyorkknicks/index.html?inline=nyt-org) going? There is no construction permit, no road map, no flight plan for these hapless vagabonds.
The franchise with a present humiliated the franchise with a past last night in the Meadowlands, much worse than the 96-83 score indicates. The Knicks have now lost 7 straight games, while the Nets have won 12 straight games at the home they will vacate as soon as the 2009-10 season. The Nets may be moving, but at least they have talent and hope.
Since their first season of 1946-47, the Knicks have actually had four worse records than their current percentage of .292, but in aesthetic ways, it has never been this bad.
"Collectively, I don't know if we're matching the energy of the teams we're competing with," Coach Larry Brown (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/larry_brown/index.html?inline=nyt-per) said long after the game. Nobody in his locker room disputed him. This team is lost.
This failure is a reflection of everybody at Madison Square Garden, most notably James L. Dolan of Cablevision, but also Isiah Thomas (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/t/isiah_thomas/index.html?inline=nyt-per), the team president, who put together this amorphous group. Under Brown, the players mill about, unsure of their roles. As Antonio Davis noted the other day after his escape to Toronto, it is impossible to tell if the Knicks are running a youth movement or a seniors team.
Last night Brown said Thomas had asked him to write down his assessment of this team, adding that evaluations are normal around midseason.
"If it gets to the point where we're not winning games, the younger players will play more," Brown said. "We're trying to build something here."
After the game he changed his tune, listing players in their early 20's and saying, "I think I'm playing the young guys."
Part of Brown's problem this season has been the new league rule that allows 15 players on a squad, 12 of them suiting up each game. Coaches have enough trouble satisfying their 10th, 11th and 12th players, but now they have to tell players to keep that David Stern (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/s/david_stern/index.html?inline=nyt-per)-mandated jacket and tie on, sit at the far end of the bench and look enthusiastic. Brown has used 15 different starting players so far, which is not a tribute to depth or versatility as much as an indication of desperation.
"Everybody's commenting on the lineups, but I go into the locker room and I don't know who's going to play," Brown said before Stephon Marbury's (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/m/stephon_marbury/index.html?inline=nyt-per) sore shoulder kept him from playing against Jason Kidd (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/k/jason_kidd/index.html?inline=nyt-per) last night.
There is no continuity. Thomas brought in Jalen Rose last week, for his scoring touch and experience, and Brown has now used Rose for 39 minutes per game in three games, far above the 26.8 minutes he was working in Toronto. Tired legs lead to tired brain cells, which may explain why he helped botch the inbounds play in Tuesday night's loss to the Clippers (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/probasketball/nationalbasketballassociation/losangelesclippers/index.html?inline=nyt-org).
Taking the ball out of bounds, Rose watched four strangers wearing the identical uniform, who did not have the wit to break loose to receive his pass. In any kind of stable franchise, that would be the kind of chemistry that came from training camp and the first half of a season. With no timeouts available, and no teammates open, Rose let the maximum five seconds tick away, and the Knicks had to give up the ball.
"You feel terrible," Brown said last night. "I put these guys in a bad situation." Brown often blames himself, a professed humility that should not deter from the reality that chaos is usually the coach's fault. By now, the Knicks ought to have 9 or 10 regulars who are game sharp. It still looks like October training camp.
Last night Brown insisted he and Thomas were on the same page with their plans for this team. "I talk to him all the time, but sometimes coaches are not objective," Brown said. "They didn't tell me it would be easy."
It was not pretty last night, as Vince Carter (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/c/vince_carter/index.html?inline=nyt-per) converted several acrobatic, body-English drives. Against a team with more pride, Carter might not have had quite so much space to work on his style points.
Last year Brown was coaching the defending champion Detroit Pistons (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/probasketball/nationalbasketballassociation/detroitpistons/index.html?inline=nyt-org), with five established starters. This is quite a comedown. After the embarrassment last night, both Brown and the assistant coach Herb Williams addressed the team about playing harder.
"The thing is, we've heard it before," Eddy Curry said.
The Nets are playing in an arena surrounded by new parking garages for an amusement park that will be built before they split for downtown Brooklyn. The Knicks are staying in Midtown Manhattan, but otherwise their future is fuzzy and bleak.
E-mail: [email protected]
Copyright 2006 (http://www.nytimes.com/ref/membercenter/help/copyright.html)The New York Times Company (http://www.nytco.com/)