should Karl have taken his starters out of the game?

[cheguevara]

with 2 minutes left in the game, Nuggets were leading by 17. THen with 1:32 left in the game and Nuggets leading by 19. 2 chances for Karl to take his starters out.

Isaiah saw it as an insult and instructed his players to take the head of some nugget...

IMO Isaiah is a piece of shit, he is one of the main culprits of the brawl.

Karl is an asshole, and was probably trying to rub it in, but Isaiah just took it to another level.

I hope Isaiah reaches basketball death in the near future and we can all forget his retarded ass.

[NuGGeTs-FaN]

look at tonight. Nuggets were up by 30 at one point and it got down to 2 pts late in the 4th. Thats what the Nuggets do, they blow leads in the 4th :lol

GK was dead serious when he said they suck at holding leads.

[Chris Childs]

with 2 minutes left in the game, Nuggets were leading by 17. THen with 1:32 left in the game and Nuggets leading by 19. 2 chances for Karl to take his starters out.

Isaiah saw it as an insult and instructed his players to take the head of some nugget...

IMO Isaiah is a piece of shit , he is one of the main culprits of the brawl.

Karl is an asshole, and was probably trying to rub it in, but Isaiah just took it to another level.

I hope Isaiah reaches basketball death in the near future and we can all forget his retarded ass .

If I seen you in person, you'll get your ass beat badly for saying that! :ihit

[dtk]

I didn't know the knicks had any fans

[Chris Childs]

I didn't know the knicks had any fans

The knicks have proud fans unlike the spurs. We stick with our team even through the worst times........ But when the spurs lose to a garbage team like charlotte... SPURS SUCK TRADE GINOBILI.

Not us....

The knicks are probably not going to be good for years to come, but us knicks fans know that. Thats why we stick with them through tough times.
We will never say trade francis or Starbury or Nate the Great. We know our team suck ass. We know about the salary cap situation, we know that, but things just take time. You know, we want to win the title like a san antonio or a miami heat but we just need the right pieces. Hopefully it will turn around quickly......


I'm just glad this franchise is still in the nba :)

[Beaverfuzz]

I say play the starters, maybe it'll give the losing team motivation to play harder the next game.

Win by a lot, lose by a lot...take them as they come.

I find it funny that Nate Robinson was complaining about getting shown up at the garden, when he did the very same thing in college more than once by a showboat dunk in college during the final seconds of a blowout win for Washington. Karma's a bitch Nate, play better D next time.

[stretch]

What George Karl does with his team shouldnt matter to the Knicks. The Knicks have to take care of their own business, not bitch about what the other team does. What George Karl did was perfectly normal. Many teams leave a few starters in even in what seems like a blowout loss, in order to make sure they don't fuck it up. And even then, teams periodically still fuck up. The Knicks should have just accepted the fact that they got their asses kicked, and quit whining like little bitches, the way Robinson and Thomas did. That's why I appreciated that Jared Jeffries said that what the Nuggets did was their own business, and that the Knicks needed to just mind their own, not complain about that, and play basketball (or at least something along those lines).

[wildbill2u]

look at tonight. Nuggets were up by 30 at one point and it got down to 2 pts late in the 4th. Thats what the Nuggets do, they blow leads in the 4th :lol

GK was dead serious when he said they suck at holding leads.
Spurs have lost some leads in the past when the game looked like it was over too. Remember what T-Mac did to us in Houston last year in the last minute and we lost.

And just last week, we were behind, put the second team in and they brought us back from way down. Funny things happen sometimes when a team relaxes.

[Axl Van Dam]

:reading It was totally George Karl's prerogative to keep his starters on the floor eventhough it was already a blowout. :flipoff Isiah's just being a whiny bitch.

[Texas_Ranger]

Yes he should but he is stupid.

[ManuTim_best of Fwiendz]

I think when you're up 19 with 1 :30 to go, it's not a question. Maybe up 10 or even 14, but 19,20?

They both were wrong. Karl for risking his starters (which is the main reason why they pull them out--I'm not sure if they were showboating though with dunks??)

and Isiah of course was irrational and foolish.

[midgetonadonkey]

A couch can do anything he wants with his team. Karl is not to blame.

[ponky]

no, he said the knicks had cut the lead from 25 to 10 at the end of the third within two minutes so when he got the score back up isaiah wasn't calling it quits and throwing up the white flag so why should he? there was some other stuff about trying to keep his young team from blowing double digit leads like he's seen happen all season long but i think he had a good point...if it was a team that knows how to close with seasoned veterans (uh, spurs?) then yes, take them out, but karl had a valid point

besides, little bitches like nate robinson whining about the lead/starters are hypocrites, when he's made comments about dunking after being 20 points up in the knicks/cavs game

[50 cent]

Maybe the Knicks should try not to suck so bad to the point that they are down 20 points in their own building and they wouldn't have to worry about it.

Fuck Isiah.

[Dave McNulla]

it's just a game. karl didn't spit on isaiah's mother. should the spurs get attacked every time they run up the score?

[MoSpur]

I think he shouldn't have had the starters in there because of risking injury. I am use to seeing our starters on the bench when we have a large lead like that. I think its better for the Nuggets to have the starters on the bench not so much because of Knicks. Its their fault they play so bad.

I think both coaches made a mistake that night. Karl for risking injury and Thomas for being Thomas.

[PM5K]

Only the Spurs loose a ninteen point lead in 1:32....

He should have taken them out because the health of his star players is more important than a grudge he has against Isiah...

[SAGambler]

Didn't Thomas trash talk to Bowen and tell his players to do something to him? Looks like when the Knicks are down, Thomas starts looking for some kind of fight.

Guess he got it this time.

I think he should have been suspended and fined.

[Fabbs]

I think when you're up 19 with 1 :30 to go, it's not a question. Maybe up 10 or even 14, but 19,20?

They both were wrong. Karl for risking his starters (which is the main reason why they pull them out--I'm not sure if they were showboating though with dunks??)

and Isiah of course was irrational and foolish.

Agree. Up 19 should be a lock. If Knicks rattled off 6 or 7 in 30 seconds i would say turn it on.
Both of them are to blame. But the Mardy Collins foul was not brutal.
Thomas is foolish for announcing to MarshMellow "not to go near the paint."
He should have kept that to his players.

[nkdlunch]

Isaiah has reached new boundaries, how the fuck, can the first thing out of your mouth after that brawl be "they instigated it by keeping their starters..."

STFU you bitch. he should be banned from the league he is an embarrasment. the AND1 team is better guided and coached than the knicks

[MosesGuthrie]

I would have pulled them just because of what happened. You are kicking someone's ass, they can get frustrated and pissed and take it out on your players. Someone could have been hurt and lost more games to injury and not just suspension.

[Samr]

Yeah, I don't think keeping your starters in is very "Sportsmanlike" but then again, I don't think Hack-a-Shaq, or Hack-a-Bowen, is very Sportsmanlike either. And I respect both strategies as a viable and cunning way to win games. The fact of the matter is, you play the game to win, not to win by as small a margin as you feel comfortable with. What do the Nuggets have to gain by going easy on the Knicks? Do you think a gesture of this kind would cause Isiah to go easier on them next time? What is that quote..."All is fair in love and war"?

If Isiah really had respect for the Garden, he would resign. He's caused MSG more embarrassment, over a longer period of time, than any one loss ever could. And after this latest incident, he only brought more. Isiah just didn't want to get embarrassed personally, so instead he resorted to the kind of brainless tactics he has used to define his wayward career as an executive.

In short: This is why we can't have nice things.

[TDMVPDPOY]

NO, its the knicks they deserve to be embarrassed, ashamed, get rid of their dignity, show them no respect, yeh they are lottery team

[spurs_fan_in_exile]

He should have but it has nothing to do with sportsmanship. The Nuggets have battled through a ton of injuries during Karl's time in Denver, including Nene blowing out a knee on a fairly routine rebound in the season opener last year. It's way too easy to land on someone's foot or one of those other freak injuries that happen sometimes. There would be people calling for his head if Melo was going to miss the next 15 games because he twisted an ankle or knee in garbage time.

[Dave McNulla]

Agree. Up 19 should be a lock. If Knicks rattled off 6 or 7 in 30 seconds i would say turn it on.
Both of them are to blame. But the Mardy Collins foul was not brutal.
Thomas is foolish for announcing to MarshMellow "not to go near the paint."
He should have kept that to his players.
mcgrady scored 13 points in 35 seconds to outscore the spurs by 11. it's possible. how are you going to tell a coach whose job is on the line that he needs to take even a slim chance?

[Spurminator]

I'd say given what transpired, it would have probably been better to take them out.

There's always a risk in leaving your stars in when the game is over. Usually, that risk is injury... Just not this time.

[Borosai]

Karl should have taken his players out. Thomas should be fired sooner than later. I hope they play again this season so we can all enjoy the coaches fuck each other up.

[spurster]

For the good of NBA basketball (getting rid of Isaiah "the punk" Thomas), every NBA team needs to run up the score on the Knicks.