ATLANTA – Isiah Thomas could not have been more thrilled to blow a 19point fourth-quarter lead in Wednesday night’s triple-overtime 118-117 marathon win in Memphis.
As the weary Knicks held an airy practice at Georgia Tech yesterday, Thomas and his players were all smiles – absolutely joyous to be 1-0 following last season’s 0-5 start, following that 23-59 humiliation, following a season of Larry Brown’s nagging negativity.
The Knicks acted like parched camels, without water for a year, stumbling upon an oasis. The unbeaten Knicks resume the new era of positive thinking tonight at Atlanta’s Philips Arena vs. the Hawks.
Thomas was not going to spoil the good vibe – something for which Brown was notorious. “I was thinking, holy [bleep], we’re on the road and we have a 19point lead,” said Thomas, who then laughed uproariously for several seconds.
“We held it, we won,” Thomas continued.”You’re not going to beat someone in their building by 19. The point is, if you can get a 19-point lead and hang on and win the game, that’s what you do.
The question you should be asking me is, that’s pretty good, you got to a 19-point lead? I mean, [bleep]. We went into somebody’s building on opening night and got a 19-point lead.” Do not call Thomas by his nickname “Zeke” anymore. Just call him “Mr.
Positive.” Or “Mr. Anti-Brown.” “Isiah’s state of mind is we won,” said Stephon Marbury, back at his old Georgia Tech digs. “He’s not going to harp on things we didn’t do. A win is a win. If you’re up by 30 and win by one, it doesn’t matter. If I can win every game like we won [Wednesday] night, I’ll take it.” Blowing the entire 19-point lead in the final 9:14 of regulation may be an alarming sign against an undermanned, mediocre Pau Gasol-less Memphis squad, but they regained their poise to survive in three extra sessions.
With Marbury, Eddy Curry and Steve Francis fouling out, Quentin Richardson (31 points, 9 rebounds, two game-winning free throws and a game-winning defensive stop) and David Lee (10 points, 13 boards) bailed the Knicks out.
“It was a big win, a road win,” Thomas said. “We went into someone else’s building and beat them on their opening night. For a team such as ours that hasn’t been together for four years playing under a certain system, it was pretty big.” After corralling the game’s last rebound, Lee carried the ball off the court and presented it to Thomas in the locker room. “He said, ‘Coach, this is for you.’ I was like, wow,” Thomas said.
“That was kind of a touching moment. I’ll keep it, get it laminated.” Later, Thomas posed for pictures with a fawning Georgia Tech women’s basketball team and signed autographs for it.
The triple-OT game was the second-longest season opener in NBA history and longest in 32 years.
“The best call came from my wife, saying I can’t believe you made me stay up this late,” Thomas said.
Jamal Crawford epitomized the good and bad in Memphis. He shot 4 of 22 and missed potential game-winners at the end regulation and the first two overtimes.
But he made the clutch strip of Chucky Atkins with 15 seconds left in the third OT, leading to Richardson’s game-winning free throws.
“Guys couldn’t wait to get back to this point because of how bad last season was,” Crawford said. “It’s a breath of fresh air. Everything’s different.
I think we showed we’re working toward something.” They also showed how much poise they can lack during that collapse. Instead of slowing down their up-tempo attack and working the clock, the Knicks played mindlessly and let rookies Rudy Gay and Kyle Lowry abuse them.
Francis dribbled a ball off his foot in the final two minutes, leading to a Gay fastbreak layup, and Marbury missed a key free throw and a lost a ball out of bounds.
“The game got tough when it shouldn’t have been, but it does feel good to get your first win in the first game,” Richardson said.
“We know it’s a young team and at some point we showed our youth. But we stuck together didn’t blame anybody and point fingers and stuck it out.” Said Marbury, “We want to play smarter up at that point, manage the clock. We’ve got to learn to do that.” Yesterday, all they learned from their coach was to savor the victories.
