The Knicks don’t mind that Kurt Thomas is aggressive. They’re not asking him to curb his rugged but effective style.
But what nobody can figure out is why in the Knicks’ most pivotal time of the season, Thomas can’t resist committing the “silly” fouls (as Latrell Sprewell called them) that can add up and even kill his team’s momentum.
Take Wednesday’s 101-95 loss to the Nets, which left the Knicks 2½ games behind Washington and two behind Milwaukee in the playoff hunt heading into tonight’s rematch at the Garden.
Thomas managed to play just 23 minutes due to foul trouble and was on the bench for most of the deciding fourth quarter. Worse, he compounded his personal fouls with a third-quarter technical.
The Knicks never recovered.
“This is a critical time for us if we’re going to make the playoffs and we’re not going to do it if he’s on the bench,” Sprewell said. “So it’s important for him to understand that he has to control himself.”
“He underestimates his importance. He’s so important in terms of us having a chance,” Don Chaney said. “You just can’t throw it away by making obvious fouls.”
But what can really be done? After all, Thomas has had an outstanding season, but he’s also been down this proverbial road before. And while Chaney said he’d sit down with Thomas to discuss his value and his fouls (“He’s still sometimes under the impression that he’s not fouling. He really is,” the coach said), the truth is, Thomas just might not be able to stop himself.
“That’s how I’ve always played,” he said. “I don’t change the way I play.”
Thomas also took umbrage with the suggestion that his technical foul Wednesday – which came at the conclusion of a 16-2 Knick run – was the reason for the loss.
“From what I read in the paper, that lost the game,” he said, laughing at the notion. “If it had became a 20-2 run after that incident, we wouldn’t even be talking about this, but since it stopped at 16-2, we’re talking about my technical.”
Why talk about it? Well, Thomas has seven technicals this year and the Knicks are 3-4 in those games.
