By MARC BERMAN

DALLAS – Isiah Thomas gave Eddy Curry a pass on his weight and was careful not to degrade his skill level.

Thomas, when asked what is the most disappointing element of Curry’s year, pointed to the Knicks center not jelling with his teammates. It was an interesting answer – one in which Thomas may be taking his share of the blame for Curry’s woes. Maybe Thomas realizes he didn’t put him in the right situations.

Curry’s season appears over, as it would make no sense to postpone knee surgery on a cartilage tear until late April when it could be done now. The Knicks say it can’t get any worse if he plays on it but right now he can’t play on it and they’re waiting a few days to see if the pain goes away. Curry is not with the team in Dallas.

If not, Curry is done. Mercifully. No more fourth-quarter benchings. No more asking Curry why he’s not getting the same amount of touches. Or why he can’t hit the rim on a jump hook.

I asked Thomas this morning at Dallas’ American Airlines Arena if Curry’s weight was a problem. “It’s never been a problem,’’ Thomas said. “I’m very comfortable with the weight he’s played with and we’re comfortable with the weight he’s at. He’s just a very big man.’’

He’s a big man who is slow to react to rebounds, is not a good passer, doesn’t do enough to get open and has minimal basketball instincts. On the Knicks program cover Saturday, Curry was on the cover with the subhead “Centerpiece.’’ Yeah, right.

“I would say thus far the most disappointing thing is we have good players individually,’’ Thomas said when asked what went wrong with Curry. “Guys you look at individually, they are good basketball players and there good things they can do. Collectively, the most disappointing thing is we haven’t come together and done it as a team.’’

Right, and that’s the coach’s and president’s fault, the guy who got his ridiculous contract extension a year ago this week.

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Thomas stuck it to the beat writers this morning, perhaps sensitive to us pointing out the lack of practice time Thomas is putting in recently. The writers were told to show up at their usual 10:30 a.m. at the arena to meet with Isiah before the 11 a.m. shootaround in Dallas. Been that way all year. Instead, Thomas decided to hold a 50-minute film session with the players in the locker room before the shootaround, forcing the writers to wait in the hallway for him for nearly an hour. Of course, most coaches would’ve had that film session Sunday night in the hotel ballroom, though the team did get in 5 a.m. Sunday morning…Went shopping in the famous Dallas Galleria Mall todoay for my father’s birthday present (happy birthday, dad), looking for a simple football Giants ballcap. Figured it would be sweet to buy a Giants Super Bowl cap in Dallas. Hit about four sporting good chain stores, with almost every NFL team represented, but Big Blue. “There’s just not a lot of people asking for Giants hats here,’’ one Dallas shopkeeper snarled.