Deja Boooooooo!!!
By MARC BERMAN
Are you kidding me?
Al Harrington pulling the same stunt against the same team at the same time with the same sickening result?
And Mike Taylor? MIKE BLEEPING TAYLOR?
The stuff that occurred tonight at the Garden against the woeful Clippers was too absurd for a Stephen King novel. Deja Boooo.
Mike D’Antoni couldn’t keep from smirking morbidly in the press-conference room, his rage at Harrington having past into dark humor.
Harrington should not be permitted to dunk again in the final minute of a close game. Next time, just lay the ball in, Al.
Harrington’s second game-costing, rim-hanging T against the Clippers, Taylor’s 35 points and a blown 19-point first-quarter lead all added up to one of the season’s tragic nights at the Garden.
And there have been plenty at the Garden of Eden, where the sick come to heal, the latest being two ailing clubs from California, Sacramento and the Clips.
The Knicks are 28-43, 15 games below .500, third-worst team in the East. They are reduced to playing spoiler Saturday in Charlotte against Larry Brown’s surging team.
D’Antoni thought he could rid this franchise of their losing culture. But this possessed team needs an exorcism.
If you knew Taylor came out of Iowa State, the 55th pick in the 2008 draft, going into the night, you need to find another hobby. Really you do.
Nate Robinson sounded like he was inferring the Knicks’ staff had Taylor, the point guard, listed as a center on a scouting report sheet. I’ll believe anything at this juncture. Donnie Walsh should take a look at Taylor as a summer free agent if he can get him on the cheap.
Zach Randolph scored 33 points, including the game-tying free throws that sent the game to OT after rookie Eric “Coulda Been a Knick” Gordon sank the technical foul shot.
The players the Knicks got for Randolph had zero points. Actually they weren’t there. Cuttino Mobley retired, Tim Thomas, missed more than you’d ever believe, was traded to Chicago.
I still wonder what would have happened if Donnie Walsh stood pat this season to see what this collection of talent that once included Randolph and Jamal Crawford could do with a great coach and stability.
After Isiah, this group needed to develop chemistry and stability. The Knicks were 6-5 when they made the first two trades. It’s not farfetched that they would have made the playoffs.
But oh yes, the Knicks have cap room in 2010 and Chris Bosh will be the savior like he’s been in Toronto. Until then, they are in the same boat as Isiah’s Knicks of the past four years – Team Titanic III. Yeah, I went there.

